Ordinary Hero
by Mrwrightnow0687
Summary: Jack Canner is an unlucky Security Officer with a kind heart, who puts the needs of others before his own. A debilitating case of asthma keeps him away from his dream of becoming a Police Officer and sharing his selflessness with the community. But when his heroics are shown after he thwarts a bank robbery a special drug is introduced to him that could change his entire world.


ORDINARY HERO

EPISODE 1

"Ordinary Hero"

Jack Canner wasn't the luckiest of men; a crippling divorce left him broke and miserable, his house had caught fire from his lazy inspector overlooking some electrical problems and his dream job as a Police Officer was just barley unobtainable for him. Jack stood post at his unarmed security job inside the lobby of a busy bank in the middle of a shady neighborhood, and recapped his life events in his head wondering how he had sunk so low. He had been a good husband, loving devoted and nurturing to the end up until he found his wife cheating on them with their relationship therapist. He had been very nice and understanding with the Inspector who over charged than high tailed out of state letting Jack buy a fire trap of a house. He had even showed such promise in high school graduating with a 3. and working hard through College to get his Bachelors in Criminal Justice. Since he was eleven years old sitting on the couch with his grandpa watching old Starsky and Hutch and CHIPS reruns Jack wanted nothing else but to be a Police Officer and he had all the qualities to be a great one. The only thing that stopped him was a severe case of asthma he had since birth that made it impossible for him to pass the physical portion of the Police exam. Yes, Jack Canner was a down on his luck, trust worthy, hard working and good natured individual who at heart believed all humanity was the same but lately his beliefs were being tested and they were going to be tested even further that day. Jack had a standing post at the main entrance of the bank lobby and waved to employees and customers in as he opened the door for them. This was his main job and while Jack looked down at his over sized blue button up shirt his company had refused to replace he wondered why they even called him a security guard, a doorman with a badge would be a more suitable title, rent a doorman would even fit seeing as a couple of the younger customers called him that already. Jack unenthusiastically reported his status all clear over the radio to the other guard on the south entrance of the bank, he was always all clear here he thought, not exactly his dream job but at ten dollars an hour it paid his bills (barely). Jack was shaken out of his somber mood by the other guard screaming through the radio.

Guard 2- "Help…. Holy shit Jack there's….."

Jack quickly turned his radio down and ensured the customers that heard the broadcast that everything was ok as he stepped outside to carry on his conversation with his partner.

Jack- " Mike, you ok I didn't catch that last transmission, repeat and watch the S bombs man there's kids and shit here"

Jack held his ear to the radio microphone and listened through static trying to hear any response from the other guard, after a few moments Jack tried again.

Jack- "Mike, Mike you there, you said THERE'S…. There's what? A sale on that new purse you wanted? Come on buddy talk to me."

Still no response from Mike made Jack nervous and he checked his surroundings for anything suspicious when he heard loud screams and gun fire from inside the bank.

Jack- "Damn it"

Jack snarled through gritted teeth as he cursed the stupidity of his security company and the bank. This particular bank had been robbed three times in less than five years and instead of the bank fighting for a better trained, well armed security team they decided to cut costs and hire his company who under bid everyone else but didn't have the insurance to cover the liability of an armed guard. No wonder the crooks were hitting again for the fourth time this time it was an even easier. Jack knelt behind a bush inches away from the door leading into the lobby, through the glass he counted two robbers armed with automatic rifles order the customers and tellers to the floor as a third robber with a hand gun jumped over the dividing door into the teller stations and collected money from their drawers. Jack continued to watch as he reached for his cell phone and dialed 911 to report the robbery, after he had hung up with the dispatcher Jack began retreating to a safer distance but suddenly noticed the body of the second guard Mike laying motionless on the lobby floor bleeding from his head. Jack looked at his beat up old yellow Chevy truck sitting just feet away, all he had to do was jump in it and observe and report from the parking lot that was his job. Jack started to slowly creep toward his truck than stopped and took another moment to examine his fallen teammate; he was stuck halfway between the parking lot and the bank door when he heard the scream of a woman than the angry yell of one of the robbers inside. Jack's heart began to race as he watched one of the thugs, who was attempting to lock the lobby door, stop and turn one eighty towards his partner in crime to see what all the commotion was about. Now that the robbers back was turned to him, without thinking Jack darted for the lobby door and with all his strength and momentum pushed it open using it as a battering ram to knock robber #1 off his feet making him loose grip of his rifle and it slid out of his hands along the marble floor. Jack stood over robber #1 and stared bewildered, that was Jacks first move and he didn't have a second one. Robber #1 jumped to his feet and pulled a shiny silver handgun out of his waistband and pointed it Jack, running on pure adrenaline Jack lunged forward and grabbed robber # 1 by the wrist and pushed his hand with the gun upward. Robber # 1 pulled the trigger and fired wildly, a stray bullet cut through one of the support chains of an ugly, over done chandelier light fixture overhead and it creaked and swayed as it began to come undone from the rest of its supports. Jack and robber # 1 wrestled for a moment with the gun but robber #1 got his wrist loose of Jack's hand and used the butt of his gun to pistol whip Jack on the left side of his head. Jack stumbled backwards and robber #1 pushed him to the floor, robber #1 removed the ski mask from his face and whipped the sweat from his brow as he walked menacingly towards Jack with his pistol still trained at his head. Jack heard the whining and creaking from the chandelier over head and quickly looked up and saw that robber # 1 was just feet away from being directly underneath it. The chandelier grew increasingly louder as more support chains began to snap and the metal pole it was mounted to started to bend. Jack noticed, as robber #1 stuck his pinky finger inside his ear and wiggled it, that the gun shots must have damaged his hearing. Jack needed to get robber # 1 to step closer to him to get right underneath the chandelier so he began to scoot backwards and taunt the enraged thief.

Jack-" Hey numb nuts, cops are already on their way why don't you and your buddies just kick rocks before this whole incident gets way out of hand."

Robber #1- " You really think we're not prepared for the cops you little shit, we've already done this three times before and got away with it what's going to stop us now?"

Robber #1 cocked back the hammer of his pistol and fired once more at Jack who slid back just in time for the bullet to miss his groin. Robber #1 became more agitated and quickened his pace towards Jack putting him smack dab in the target zone for the chandelier were he tried to fire another round but the gun clicked empty and the slide locked back. Jack opened his eyes after hearing the click from the gun and let out a sigh of relief as he watched robber #1 fidget with reloading his gun. The chandelier supports completely broke and it dangled by its wires and the stress of all that weight slowly began to weaken and snap those as well as the electricity began to ark.

Jack- "You know what's going to stop you this time dick head?" "I'll give you a hint it weights about two hundred pounds, its real ugly and made of glass."

At that moment the chandelier wires snapped and the huge fixture came crashing down on top of robber #1 with a huge thud. When the dust had settled Jack jumped to his feet and ran towards robber #1 to see if he would continue to be a problem, which he wasn't. Jack saw the chandelier had completely crushed the robber and if that didn't kill him the two large glass shards that stuck out of his back and head did. Jack grabbed the gun from robber #1's exposed bloody hand and whirled around to point at robber # 2 as he rounded the corner to check on the noises and gun shots from his teammate.

Jack- "Aw yeah, that's right asshole forgot about the second security guard didn't you?"

Robber #2- "Honestly buddy we thought you ran off like a little bitch." Robber #2 said as he nuzzled the butt of his rifle against his shoulder preparing to fire.

Jack- "you thought wrong, I got to commend you guys though three bank heists from the same bank not too shabby." Jack pointed the pistol directly at robber # 2's head and cocked back the hammer.

Robber # 2 - I'll tell you what top flight, you put that gun down I promise not to hurt you or anyone else here and you can walk out with a cut of the money, no one has to know."

Jack looked around at the scared innocent customers and tellers lying on the floor and noticed one female teller in an unconscious heap against a desk.

Jack- "Looks to me like you already did some hurting while I was gone" Jack motioned with his head towards the unconscious teller than towards Mike the guard by the south door.

Robber # 2- "Collateral damage, your buddy was in the way and that dumb bitch teller tried to hit the panic button. So what do you say you put that gun down and we all make some money?"

Jack- "I like to make an honest day's living, no thank you"

Suddenly Robber # 3 jumped up from over the teller desks where he was hiding and began firing at Jack, One bullet clipped Jack's shoulder and Robber # 2 took this moment of distraction to put a couple rounds in Jacks chest. Jack fell to the floor while the panicked crowd of employees and customers began to scream; Robber # 2 walked over kicked the gun from Jack's hand and knelt next to his body.

Robber # 2- "Punk ass rent a cop." Robber #2 picked at the bullet holes in Jack's shirt and pulled his hand back startled that there was no blood.

Jack's eyes darted open as he looked up at Robber #2 and swung around with a ball point pen he had grabbed while on the floor. Robber # 2 yelled for help just as Jack's pen connected with his jugular. Robber #2 fell backwards and grasped his neck to stop the bleeding as he ripped out the pen. Robber # 3, who had disappeared back behind the teller desks to collect the rest of the money, ran back into the room.

Robber # 3- "Yo Creed, stop dicking around….."

Robber # 3 locked eyes with Jack as Jack stumbled back to his feet Robber # 1's pistol back in his hand, as Jack came to his feet he ripped off his over sized security shirt exposing his bullet proof vest. Robber # 3 saw Robber # 2 lying dead in a pool of his own blood, screamed at Jack and presented his rifle to fire when he stopped cold by the sound of approaching police car sirens. Robber # 3 grabbed a young woman from the floor, swung his rifle back over his shoulder and presented the muzzle of his pistol he hid in his pants to the woman's head.

Robber # 3- "You really want to play this game super star?" Robber # 3 dug the barrel harder into the woman's temple. "Listen outside, the big boys are here why don't you just lie down on the ground and let me and miss pretty here walk out the door."

Jack looked at the frightened look on the woman's face and saw the tears in her eyes.

Jack-"You're not going to walk out of here with her" Jack said through shortened breaths the stress of all this action taking a toll on his asthma.

Robber # 3- "O yeah, why is that hero?"

Jack- "Because you're going to walk out of here with me instead." Jack dropped the pistol and slowly walked towards the robber with his hands on his head.

Robber # 3- "Wow, you really are some sort of hero you want to take her place and die it'll be my pleasure."

Robber # 3 threw the woman to the side and grabbed Jack in a choke hold. The last remaining robber put the gun to Jack's head and together they started moving for the lobby door. Before they exited Robber #3 noticed Robber #1's mangled body underneath the chandelier.

Robber # 3- Damn hero, you really stirred up a shit storm here they should give you a medal after this. I figure I should let you know beforehand, I don't intend on going out in handcuffs so I guess were both going to die in a blood bath if it comes to that."

Jack and the Robber exited the door and were met by dozens of local law enforcement with their guns trained at them.

Robber# 3- "Ok Pigs this is what I want: 1. A car out of here to the nearest airport, 2. You better have that son of a bitch fueled and ready for me to depart to a destination of my choosing 3….."

Jacks attention was drawn by one of the more heavily armed SWAT team member motioning Jack to duck out of the way of the robber. Jack used his peripheral vision and saw robber # 3's hand around his gun was quivering and in the heat of his speech his finger had backed off the trigger. Jack saw his chance and struck back a massive blow with his elbow directly into robber # 3's gut, the robber stumbled back and aimed his gun at the Officers and began firing wildly into the crowd. Jack dropped to his stomach and covered his head with his hands as the crowd of Officers fired on robber #3 bullet rippling his body till he seized fire and drop to the floor as well. Robber # 3's head dropped inches away from Jack's and Jack watched the life leave the robber's eyes. Officers rushed to Jack's aid and picked him up off the floor, they walked him to the back of a waiting ambulance were the medics told him how lucky he was none of the bullets punctured his vest and treated him for his injuries. When the medics were through with him Jack was bombarded by reporters who had arrived on scene shortly after the cops and began aggressively interviewing him.

Reporter- "Mr. Canner, Mr. Canner, how frightened were you when you realized that you may not have made it out of the bank alive?"

Jack-"I honestly felt numb to the situation I just saw people in trouble and knew I needed to help, there were no other feelings I just wanted to help."

Reporter- "Mr. Canner, are you upset at the men that held you and the others hostage?"

Jack- "Upset, no I know everyone's going through tough times right now and people will do crazy things to survive and make ends meet. I guess you can say I feel sorry for them that the lives had gotten so bad that they needed to go to such an extreme."

Reporter- "Mr. Canner, a hostage said that you traded spots with her and walked out with the assailant at gun point is that true?"

Jack- " Yes that's true, like I said I saw people that needed help and I helped them I think anyone else in my position would have done the same."

Jack looked to his left and noticed the woman he traded spots with earlier in the bank was being interviewed as well. Jack shrugged off the rest of the questions from the reporters and made his way over to her, as he got closer he could hear her answers to the interview questions.

Woman- "He not only saved my life but dozens of others, he put his life in jeopardy to save people he didn't even know, he's a hero, he's my hero."

Jack stepped into view and the woman saw him and darted towards him, she wrapped her arms around and held him in a thankful embrace. Jack held her head and felt her warm tears on his cheek as she thanked him over and over. The woman let go of Jack and stared deeply into his eyes, Jack was lost for words this woman had so much love for him that he was overwhelmed. He knew in his heart that this was his calling, he wanted to and needed to help people. Jack stuck out his hand for an introduction.

Jack- "Jack Canner ma'am"

Woman- "Peggy Collins, thank you so much"

Peggy held Jack's hand high over her head after the handshake and the crowd of cops, reporters and hostages cheered and applauded, Jack just stood there with an awkward smirk on his face.

MEANWHILE…

Robert Menstrength of Menstrength pharmaceuticals sat in his office and watched a live, late breaking report about a man in his early thirties that had saved a dozen people by thwarting a bank robbery. Robert turned up his television to hear all the details, it was said that he fought bravely against three armed men when he himself was unarmed, than swapped himself out with another hostage to walk outside by gunpoint by a third robber. Robert became further intrigued by the man's answers to the questions from the reporters about why he had done it; the man's humble selfless answers shot a jolt of excitement through Robert's whole body as he jumped up to make a phone call. After a moment a man picked up the other line.

Robert Menstrength-"Mr. Clyde, I've found our man."

Mr. Clyde- "Are you certain"

Robert- "Yes absolutely turn on the 5'oclock news"

Mr. Clyde- "He's a civilian?"

Robert "Yes a security guard."

Mr. Clyde- "I hope you're right about this, we never intended this to be tested on a civilian"

Robert- "I know he's right for this, I can feel it.

Robert hung up the phone and stared at his television and paused his DVR as the reporters got a close up of Jacks face.

Robert- "Jack Canner, your life is never going to be the same" Robert muttered to himself.

EPISODE 2

"PILL POPPING"

Jack was rustled out of a deep sleep by his best friend Dillon Town, since his house burned down and his wife left, Jack sought shelter with his old college friend, but Dillon could get annoying at times. Dillon stood over Jack and continued to kick his bed than started to jump on it.

Jack-"Dillon you're a freaking man-child get the hell off of me."

Dillon-"Wake up big man, your bitch of an ex-wife is here to claim the rest of your junk ha-ha."

Jack swung to hit Dillon but although he was a jerk, he was a fast jerk. Dillon jumped off the bed and ran down the hall, Jack gave up his pursuit and walked towards the door he looked through the peephole and saw his ex-wife Tanya standing on the step with her arms folded looking more pissed off than usual. Jack took a deep breath and opened the door and immediately Tanya went at him.

Tanya-"ARE YOU CRAZY, I SAW THE NEWS YOU MUST BE CRAZY"

Jack- "Tanya calm down, I just woke up, my body aches like shit and I haven't taken my vicodine yet."

Tanya-"You're going to need a lot more than Vicodine when I'm done with you, what you think you are bulletproof. You're so busy trying to help other people that you forget to help yourself, I'm so sick of it why do you think our marriage failed?"

Jack- "Because you took more of just our marriage counselor's advice, you took his di….

Tanya- "I only did that because you were a train wreck, constantly giving way too much of our money away to the homeless the orphans, taking so much overtime from your coworkers to help them with their pathetic problems you could never make it home to me in time and turning down all those job offers from my father so you can stick to being a pathetic security guard to latch on to your dying dreams of becoming a cop."

Jack- "I like to help people Tanya, you couldn't see that that's why we weren't meant to be and also because you're a crazy bitch". Jack slammed the door in Tanya's face and slumped down to the floor where he held his head in his hands. Through the door Tanya lowered her tone and continued to talk to Jack knowing he wouldn't just walk away.

Tanya- "Look Jack, you know I care for you, I'll always care for you but these selfless suicidal tendencies have got to stop, the way I see it now you're a national hero you could really run with that. You can even use that reputation to become a senator or something more worthwhile than a security guard. I know you love to help but how are you helping by opening doors for elderly ladies at a bank?"

Jack stood up and opened the door, he stared deeply into his ex wives eyes.

Jack- You'll never understand I'd rather open up doors for old ladies than be some political puppet or some con-artist insurance sales men for your father, I like to help people it's that simple It's what I was born to do I can feel it in my bones."

Tanya cursed and stomped away down the steps of Dillon's apartment.

Tanya- "I HATE TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE IN YOUR IMAGINARY FAIRY TALE LAND JACK, BUT YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT AS A COP REMEMBER?" "COPS DON'T GET WINDED AFTER A 20 FOOT SPRINT."

Jack closed the door and made his way to the couch were he dropped down and buried his face in the cushions. Dillon walked in and sat next to Jack in the arm chair.

Dillon-"You know I never liked that crazy succubus right?" Jack nodded his head still buried in the cushions.

Dillon-"She's got a point though dude, I mean since I've known you your just always way to helpful remember when you bailed Tom Ziggler out of Jail with your whole paycheck because you didn't want his dad to find out he was drinking and driving, how was that your problem?"

Jack-" Tom was a good guy he was going through a bad break up everyone makes mistakes and he promised me that he would never do that again and he kept his promise, he learned from his mistakes."

Dillon-"Yeah but this is different man you did your part at the bank by calling the cops. Why would you rush back in their all gung hoe completely unarmed and outnumbered, it just doesn't make sense they had guns dude."

Jack- "I was wearing a vest"

Dillon- "That shits not one hundred percent protection and you know that, even the medics were surprised you survived."

Jack-"I don't want to talk about this anymore, you guys will never understand"

A knock at the door brought Jack out of his couch cushion cocoon and he walked back towards the door not bothering to check the peephole this time, he was sure it was Tanya back to give him more hell.

Jack- "Look, Tanya I don't want to argue anymore" As Jack opened the door he was greeted by an unknown man in a very expensive suit.

Robert Menstrength- "O, I'm sorry if you were expecting someone else and I hope I'm not intruding my name is Robert Menstrength and you must be the heroic Mr. Canner." Robert extended his hand for an introduction; Jack shook his hand and introduced himself as well.

Jack- "Yes, I'm Jack canner, you wouldn't happen to be THE Robert Menstrength from the commercials, the head of Menstrength Pharmaceuticals? "

Robert- "Guilty as charged"

Jack-"Well how can I help Menstrength Inc today sir, I really don't have enough at the moment for a donation but I really do support you cause for cures for cancer and Alzheimer's research when I can."

Robert-"O no Mr. Canner I'm not here for that I saw you on the news and I believe I have the perfect job opportunity for you as head of security at my main research and development facility, It comes with benefits, overtime and a hefty pay increase if I may add."

Jacks jaw dropped, a Security supervisor position at a worldwide drug company could really help pay the bills, and it would look good on a resume when he reapplied for the Police Department in the fall, however it did seem too good to be true.

Jack-"Not to sound rude sir, but what's the catch an opportunity like this doesn't normally fall into my lap."

Robert-"No catch Mr. Canner just a lot of responsibility, lately our main site has been getting broken into. A lot of junkies out there trying to get their hands on our oxycodine and such, your abilities I believe would make an excellent asset in beefing up our security."

Jack thought hard but not for long, to pass up this opportunity would be outrageously stupid, so he quickly shook the CEO's hand before he changed his mind.

Jack-"I won't let you down sir, when do I start"

Robert-"I know you won't Mr. Canner, be at the front gate by 8'oclock tomorrow morning please."

Jack- "Absolutely sir." Jack closed the door behind his new employer and met the surprised and pleased face of his college buddy.

Dillon-"Hey maybe with a little bit of that extra dough you can pitch in for some rent, and maybe a jet ski or two."

THE NEXT DAY….

Jack sat in his truck and adjusted his tie in the mirror, He was nervous and felt overdressed but better to be safe than sorry. He drove up to the gate and after a brief conversation with the gate guard drove in to the employee parking lot. Jack stepped into the lobby and the woman at the receptionist desk told him to take the elevator to the twelfth floor. Jack stepped out of the elevator on the twelfth floor and was surprised to be immediately greeted by Mr. Menstrength.

Robert- "Good morning Mr. Canner, ahead of schedule I see I like that please follow me."

Jack followed the CEO down the hall into his office, when they were inside his office Robert politely asked Jack to close and lock his door. Jack did so and turned around expecting an interview session but was surprised to see Menstrength pulling a tall mirror off his wall exposing a seven foot tall wall safe. Robert typed in a combination and the safe opened revealing another elevator. Robert stepped in and directed Jack to join him, once inside Robert pressed a button reading B2 and the elevator went down 13 floors. The doors opened and Jack was introduced to a large sterile laboratory.

Jack-"Hmm, Secret elevator to a secret floor for a secret laboratory, very fancy Mr. Menstrength and what is it that you do here?"

Robert- "Well Jack, I hope it's ok if I call you Jack, I'm about to show you."

Robert put on a white sterile suit, gloves and a helmet and Jack did the same. Robert swiped his key card and opened a door leading into a space were six scientists were studying samples under microscopes. Jack began to get a very uneasy feeling but shrugged it off he imagined this was like a pharmacy at Wal-Mart and that kept his mind a little more at ease. The two men stepped into a separate space of the laboratory were Jack was introduced to the head of pharmaceutical research and development team Dr. Michael Clyde, Clyde stood up and introduced himself but Jack felt like this man didn't like him even judged him as he studied him like a specimen.

Robert- "Well Jack by now you've probably got a lot of questions, and I assure you I will get to your everyone but first I have one for you, what is it you think we do here?"

Jack-"Well from what I've read and seen on TV you guys are working hard to find a cure for Alzheimer's, Cancer, Aids pretty much all that."

Robert- "This is very true Jack, but what if I told you that Menstrength pharmaceuticals has already found a cure and not just Aids, and cancer and Alzheimer's I'm also talking about bronchitis, migraines even the common cold?"

Jack-"I would be intrigued but also confused as to why the general public hasn't been introduced to this yet."

Robert-"Mr. Clyde if you'd please."

Michael Clyde pulled a small safe out of his desk and inserted his hand where a beam of bright light scanned his hand and opened the safe. Inside Michael pulled out two purple pills and with a nod from Robert, handed them to Jack, for the first time Michael Clyde spoke.

Michael- "In 2009 we tracked a very specific part of the human Immune system that we found to be under developed, we created Immunity Advancement Serum 1 or I.A.S.1 to fully develop this part of the human immune system and with careful calculation and several attempts later IAS8 was created that helped make the body immune to any form of disease or illness."

Jack studied the pills closely as Michael continued.

Michael-" With most test subjects IAS8 not only helped fight illness it made the subjects body slightly stronger and faster , In essence IAS8 began to bring that subject to its peak physical ability. So we continued our research and found that with a little finer tuning, and introducing the subject to an accelerant to speed the bonding of the drug to the subject's cells. The subject would be almost impervious to pain and two times stronger and faster than any normal human plus having the aided advantage of being immune to all toxins and bacteria."

Jack-"So what you're saying is you didn't just create a cure for cancer but a magical elixir to turn every man, woman and child into a super human?" Jack chuckled and continued.

Jack-" excuse me if I'm a little doubtful, no disrespect but if a major pharmaceutical company came up with a super human drug I'm sure they'd jump at the chance to mass produce and sell the shit out of it, making a profit would be the main goal am I right?"  
Robert-"Yes, Jack that is true but unfortunately it wasn't that easy, most of the test subjects that took to the serum had positive affects, a handful of the rest had major brain hemorrhages, strokes, death and sometimes something far worse. "

Jack-"What's worse than death?"

Michael-"We call it mind melting; sometimes the drug will overload the brain and cause damage in such a way that the subject reversed back to its basic survival instincts. It would lose all higher brain function and only want and know how to do two things, eat and survive which made the subject very unstable, paranoid and violent."

Jack-"O, is that all, made regular people crazy that's not such a big deal why aren't we mass producing this now?" Jack said sarcastically."

Robert-"You're sarcasm is not necessary Mr. Canner, you see with careful observation the test subjects who can't handle the drug can be winged of it and the subjects who take a positive influence with IAS9 can grow to become the best of him or herself."

Jack- "Wait, IAS9? you mean to tell me that even though some of your test subjects became enraged zombies you continued to make this junk, imagine if al-Qaida or someone got a hold of this and disperses it in the air or dumped it in our drinking water."

Michael-"They would have to crush up a lot of pills to do that." Michael said as he pointed at the two purple pills in Jack's hand.

Jack- "You mean to tell me these little Viagra looking pills are IAS9?"

Robert-"Well it was meant to be sold as an over the counter medication Jack, what did you think it was going to look like a huge syringe?"

Jack-"Well honestly yeah but….why are you telling me all this?"

Michael-"we want you to be the first human test subject for IAS9. "

Jack was blown away.

Jack- "You what, no way I'm not sick, I mean I've got really bad asthma but come on isn't this a little extreme?"

Robert-"Exactly, individuals who don't carry any life threatening illness tend to absorb more of the drugs properties that influence advancements in physical strength, speed and healing, not to mention a huge gain in the blocking of major pain receptacles in the brain."

Jack- "So you want to dose my body with a drug I don't need just make me a badass, just to see what will happen?"

Jack held his head in his hands completely overwhelmed by what these two "professionals" were suggesting.

Michael- " Yes there is a risk that your body will fight the drug and it will lead to mind melting I don't want to lie to you, But like Mr. Menstrength mentioned before with careful observation of your bodies reaction to IAS9 and careful dosage the likely hood of an undesired reaction is slim to none."

Jack-"I still don't understand why you wouldn't want to focus on the healing portion of this drug instead of the super human aspect?"

Robert-"I'll be honest with you Jack, Menstrength Inc's stock has plummeted because of the recession forcing us to raise our prices on necessary drugs for the general public which hurts us even more. I took this company over from my father and he believed in affordable medication for everyone who needed it. But lately I've had to go in a different direction to get our funding to keep Menstrength afloat. After the unprecedented side effects of IAS9 I decided to pitch the super human drug to the military who became very intrigued with its outcome. But of course the military wants a show and tell of IAS9's strengths and weaknesses, that's where you come into the equation."

Michael- "The military has already been perfecting a form of human advancement on their own, their calling them S.F.B.'S."

Jack-"S.F.B.?"

Michael- SOLDIERS FROM BIRTH, an idea that if an infant is grown with just the right DNA and immersed into combat situations from an early age it would make a near perfect soldier, however the procedure is costly and the concept of human cloning is not exactly legal."

Robert-" We've pitched a strong, good natured, heroic, healthy individual dosed with IAS9 to be a cheaper more humane alternative to the SFB program, a person such as yourself."

Jack- "How do you know I'm not some psychopathic killer who's going to overdose and go on a rampage with your drug?"

Robert presented a file in front of Jack on Michael's desk and Jack began to read. Inside was a written testament of a clean bill of mental health from Dr. Marshall Edwards Jack's old relationship therapist, psychologist and his ex-wife's current lover.

Jack- "Where the hell did you get this? This is supposed to be confidential"

Robert-"When the military and government get involved nothings confidential, you're a perfect candidate for this Jack. I know you feel like you were put on this world to help people to be a positive influence, well now you can. All your life you've wanted to be the hero but life has a funny way of kicking you in the teeth like giving you a crippling case of asthma, I can offer you that chance to be a hero Jack but you have to trust me."

Jack sat completely still his mind was in a haze millions of thoughts and questions danced around till the point where thinking was impossible.

Jack-"There's just…. There's just so many more deserving people than myself that could really benefit from this, why not a soldier?"

Robert-"That kind of selfless attitude is exactly why you're here but you must realize you do deserve this and why not a soldier? Well first of all we needed a blank slate clean of any specific training, or mental trauma to show the true strength of this drug which is basically to make a normal man extraordinary. Second just because I work with the military doesn't mean I trust them."

Michael continued Robert's statement

Michael- "Myself and Mr. Menstrength believe that once we turn this super soldier back to the military they'll attempt to dissect IAS9 and make it more volatile even against our specific instructions not to, this experimentation would be more deadly than useful and an extended overdose could bring about an uncontrollable event."

Jack- "Yeah, I get it excess is the name of the game in America, so what is it I'd have to do?"

Robert-"It's as simple as taking those two pills you have in your hand, one set immediately after you leave her and than two once a day in the morning before a meal, we will train you and in two weeks you will be demonstrated in front of top military leaders to prove that IAS9 can work for more than just a magical cure."

Robert placed a three page contract and a pen on top of Jack's medical file, Jack began to read the legal jargon and felt like he was applying for a second mortgage on his house but he was sure to read every single line. The point that Jack was still here after all that was mentioned and that he was actually reading the contract brought a huge smile across Robert Menstrength's face.

Robert-"Any questions Mr. Canner?"

Jack- "Yeah, there isn't really a security job waiting for me is there?"

Robert chuckled enjoying Jack's sense of humor finding it up lifting another quality that made him extremely eligible for this testing.

Robert-"Of course there is Mr. Canner I wouldn't lie to you included in your compensation for the drug trail you will also receive a bi-weekly pay check and hold the title of Security Director for Menstrength Pharmaceuticals a perfect cover for your frequent visitation to the property"

Jack-"And if anything starts to go wrong you'll pull me off this garbage immediately right?"

Michael- "You'll receive daily CAT scans to see if IAS9 is overloading your brain and if so you'll be slowly winged off of it."

Jack-"Daily CAT scans? That's a lot of radiation"

Robert- "What you don't fully understand yet Jack is that with IAS9, radiation will no longer hurt you, nothing will be able to hurt you ever again."

Jack saw that last statement as somewhat of an exaggeration but decided that in order to fulfill what he believed to be his destiny this would be the only way to reach that goal. So with one more glance over the entire contract Jack picked up the Menstrength Inc pen and signed his allegiance to them.

Robert-"Excellent, let's get started "

Before Jack had a chance to react Robert connecter a vial into the back of his sterile suit were the oxygen hose would have connected and began releasing some sort of gas that quickly made its way through his suit and into his sealed helmet. Jack freaked out and held his breath; he began to frantically pull at the straps to remove his helmet but as his asthmatic lungs burned for oxygen he involuntarily gasped for air introducing the gas into his air ways. As the gas began to seep in Jack's body it began to tingle and a surge of energy exploded from him as he yanked the helmet off his head and pushed Dr. Clyde over his desk were he fell to the floor. Michael jumped back up holding a loaded pistol in his hand aimed at Jacks head.

Robert- "Jack I need you to calm down, Dr. Clyde put that weapon away immediately, Jack you don't have to worry this is all part of the procedure."

Jack-"What the fuck you nut job, nobody said anything about poisoning me."

Michael placed the gun back in his desk drawer and replied.

Michael-"It wasn't poison you imbecile, If you read the procedure sheet of the contract more thoroughly that was the accelerant for IAS9 that we just administered to you, without it the drug would only partly heighten your physical attributes we need a full physical overhaul from the drug to make you superhuman."

Jack-"I'm sorry I must have overlooked that while you guys were barking in my ear about making me a lab rat you freaking nerd."

Jack jumped up from the chair and stomped angrily towards the elevator and threw the two purple pills on the laboratory floor as he stood inside the elevator punching in random buttons trying to get the conveyor to move. The elevator continued to buzz and chime but the doors stayed open and in walked Robert Menstrength.

Robert-"I apologize for frightening you Jack but it's a necessary part of the process if you would only come back inside I could…."

Jack-" No, you know what screw this I'm so stupid for trusting you guys I should have had a lawyer look over that contract I hope whatever you gave me doesn't kill me or you're going to get sued so hard."

Robert slid his card in the elevator card reader and the doors closer, he punched in the lobby floor and the elevator began to move upwards.

Robert-"I understand your concern Mr. Canner and if you really don't feel like continuing with this than here."

Robert handed Jack the contract he had just signed as the elevator came to the lobby floor and the doors opened.

Robert-"But if for any reason you want to reconsider…"

Robert reached in his pocket and gave Jack a small envelope with the four IAS9 pills inside.

Robert-"Take two of these now and another two of these tomorrow morning and call me after."

The elevator doors shut and Jack stood there for a moment examining the pills and the contract, he walked to the nearest trashcan, ripped apart the contract and threw it in. Jack held the pills tightly in his closed fist and was about to throw them away when the lobby receptionist broke his concentration.

Receptionist-"Sir, is everything alright?"

Jack- "Yeah, I just got to get home too much caffeine I feel jittery."

Jack placed the IAS9 pills in his pocket and walked out the lobby doors; he jumped into his truck and loosened up his tie. While he was doing this he took a moment to examine himself in the rearview mirror to see if there was any boils or lesions on his skin.

Jack-"These bastards better not have given me the Bird Flu or some shit."

Jack punched his truck into gear, drove by the guard gate and went straight home. Once he was home he was anxiously greeted by Dillon.

Dillon-"Hey buddy, how'd it go you going to be raking in your millions and bringing home some powerful pain killers on the side?"

Jack-"Shut up Dillon I don't want to talk about it, I'm tired all I want to do is take a nap and get out of this goddamn suit."

Jack walked into his room, locked the door and stripped down to his boxers. He examined himself in the mirror once more looking for anything abnormal these quacks might have given him with that gas but still could find anything wrong with him. He did however take notice to the fact that he was becoming increasingly out of shape due to the amount of hours he was working not allowing him gym time and his asthma keeping him from getting little if any cardio. Jack threw his suit and jacket in the laundry bin and the pill envelope containing IAS9 fell to the floor, Jack picked up the envelope and continued to reexamine the purple pills. He walked into his bath room and paced back and forth for a moment than filled a glass of water to drink, he drank the water and placed the pills on the side of the sink closest to the toilet and was about to flick them in the toilet when he stopped and took a step back.

Jack-"Aw Screw it"

Jack said as he put two of the pills far down his throat and took a long gulp of water from his cup, He put the other two back in the envelope and placed them in his medicine cabinet. He put the cup back on the sink jumped in his bed and dozed off to sleep surprisingly fast. Hours flew by as Jack rustled around in bed in a deep slumber, the sounds of cracking bone and peeling skin could be heard and seen under the covers and Jack was woken suddenly by a loud knock at his door from Dillon.

Dillon-Dude you've been knocked out for hours come on you need to get ready remember I got us that double date with Candice and her sister for you, we've got to be at that comedy club in an hour so come on sleeping beauty get ready."

Jack rolled over and looked at the clock, Dillon wasn't joking he was asleep for five hours he didn't even realize he was that tired.

Jack-"Dillon, Yeah man you're going to have to reschedule I'm exhausted tell the ladies I said sorry."

Dillon-"Bullshit reschedule, come on man I've had this planned for a week now you know I've been working hard to get your mind off Tanya you need a night out."

Jack-"I know man and I appreciate it just tonight's not a good night I had a…. weird day at work."

Dillon stopped pounding on the door and Jacks room was silent for a moment, Jack rolled back over and attempted to go back to sleep thinking Dillon had finally given up but moments later Jack heard the familiar sound of a key being stuck into his doorknob outside and rustling to get it open, somehow Dillon had made a key to Jack's room and Jack was not happy about this.

Jack-"Dude what the hell how'd you get a key to my room?"

Dillon-"This is my house remember I have a key for every lock in here."

Jack-"Well give it to me It's my room and I don't want you having access to my shit and who just busts in someone's door like that you're beginning to be a real pain in my ass Dillon."

Dillon began to jump on Jacks bed again and tease him with the key.

Dillon-"You want the key, come on man come and get it"

Dillon jumped off the bed and made a beeline for Jacks bedroom door but before he even made it halfway Jack had rolled out of bed ran to the doorway with lightning fast speed and blocked his exit.

Dillon-"Wow man, how'd you get so freaking fast? I'll tell you what I'll give you the key if you get dressed and come out with me tonight I'm telling you it will be good for you."

Jack thought for a moment than slowly stepped out of the way, Dillon walked by and handed Jack the key than punched him playfully in the stomach but Jack barely flinched or even felt the hit.

Dillon-"Dude, You've been hitting the gym without me huh?"

Jack was confused last time he looked he was a bit flabby and Dillon always criticized how out of shape he was, what changed? Jack walked over to the mirror and checked to see what Dillon was talking about, Jacks breath was taken away by this miracle transformation that put on about eight pounds of muscle, defined that muscle especially in his abs and even made him a couple inches taller. Dillon yelled from the other room.

Dillon-"Come on big man get a move on we got to be there in a half hour."

Jack-"Alright I'm coming."

Jack grinned ear to ear, shook his head and put on some clothes. Forty five minutes later Jack and Dillon met up in line with Dillon's girlfriend Candice and Candice's sister Alyssa.

Dillon-"Sorry were late ladies, Princess Canner here couldn't decide on what to wear."

Candice-"its ok baby we saved you a spot in line and we've got some great seats."

The line moved fast and Jack was still so lost in thought about what had happened earlier that day that he barely said a word to his blind date Alyssa. As the four stepped into the comedy club and made their way to their seats the lights dimmed, the curtain rose and out stepped the amateur comedian of the night. Even Jack couldn't say this guy was all that funny but he was trying his best and everyone was still having a good time, everyone except for one inebriated jerk sitting in a corner table of the room. The man was rough looking he was wearing a plaid red shirt with tight jeans and cowboy boots and the hat to match and this cowboy became increasingly louder and vulgar as the alcohol continued to flow.

Cowboy-"Hey boy you aren't funny and you're one ugly son of a bitch, why don't you get down off that stage and let someone up there that can make me laugh."

The brave comedian ignored the man as best he could and pressed on with his jokes and after a few more of the angry cowboy's rants the comedian decided to fight fire with fire and began to impersonate the cowboy to the delight of the crowd. Everyone began cheering and laughing and whistling everyone accept the cowboy who stood up and angrily kicked his chair over. In a standing position Jack could really see how big and mean this cattle hand was, he stood about 6'2'' and was built like a Mac truck. Jack's eyes began to focus in and out wildly like they were camera lenses and after blinking hard a couple times Jack was able to focus clear across the room with eagle like vision on the cowboy and noticed tucked away in his back pocket the handle of a hunting knife. Jack also noticed the cowboy wore a leather vest and on the back was a crest the picture on the crest was a zombie looking coyote howling at the moon. Jack had seen this crest before on the news and knew that this cowboy was a member of an elite biker gang known as the Howlers, they were extremely dangerous.

Dillon- "O damn, that guy is huge probably from all that farm food, that comedian's dead."

Jack's heart began to race as the cowboy began to drunkenly stumble past the people sitting down that were in his way all the while cursing and now threatening the comedian, and as his anger and voice began to elevate, the crowd and comedian began to realize this was no longer a laughing matter.

Comedian-"Hey man were just trying to have a good time here, no need to get crazy."

Cowboy- "You haven't even seen crazy yet son, I'm going to rip your hair off your scalp and use it to wipe my ass with, and then I'll cut you into tiny little chunks and feed you to the hogs."

Jack stood up and began to move towards the cowboy seeing this whole situation was about to spiral out of control and the drunken cowboy could do some real damage with that knife. Jack moved around his table but was stopped by Dillon's hand wrapping around his wrist pulling him back towards him and the girls.

Dillon-"Dude, are you crazy look at the size of that guy let the bouncers handle him I know you're feeling pumped up lately but you don't have to get involved."

Jack yanked his hand away from Dillon and continued in the direction of the angry cowboy, he excused himself to a couple as he knocked over their dishes and they came crashing to the floor. The breaking dishes caught the cowboys attention and he stopped his march towards the comedian just when he was about to get up the last step to the stage. Jack looked at the comedian and motioned for him to get out of there; the comedian did just that and scurried off stage. Jack continued pushing through the crowded dining area until he closed the distance between him and the cowboy.

Jack-"Howdy there partner, no need to get upset about a couple jokes let's just take a seat and have a hooting good time."

Cowboy-"O, alright smartass you want to get knocked out I'll certainly oblige you."

Jack- "Oblige me?" "Who the hell talks like that anymore…?"

Jack's snickering was brought to stop by the cowboy hitting Jack square in the face with his heavy handed fist. Jack stumbled backwards but only out of surprise not pain in fact he knew that hit should have knocked him out cold but he barely felt it, his skin knew something had made contact with it and his brain told him "Ow" but the pain was barely existent just a dull feeling in his face. Jack felt like testing the waters a little bit more as he regained his composure and walked right back towards the cowboy and got right in his face.

Jack-"Is that all you got Hoss?"

The cowboy looked stunned that this city slicker took a hit like that and kept on coming so he tried something new, the cowboy grabbed Jack by his shoulders and head butted him but this time the cowboy was the one to stumble back as Jacks new high density bones made it feel like the cowboy had just ran head first into a cinder block. Jack stood still proudly with his hands on his hips as the cowboy shook off his headache and came at Jack with a swift kick with his heavy cowboy boots that connected powerfully with Jacks testicles and while the crowd's faces cringed Jack cupped his privates and cursed under his breath. This pain was a little more significant even with IAS9 coursing through his veins a kick to the nuts still hurt like hell, so Jack gave the cowboy a little shove in his chest but this little shove sent the cowboy flying backwards into left stage through the bands equipment. Jack turned one eighty to the crowd and a moment went by than they all stood and applauded and Jack took a bow as Dillon jumped out of his seat and pointed behind him and tried to scream louder over the uproar of the excited audience. Jack saw his friend pointing as he came up from his bow and flung his body around just as the angry cowboy came flying at Jack with his hunting knife. Jack caught the cowboy's wrist as he thrust downward with the knife and used his newfound strength to snap it in two like a toothpick and the cowboy dropped to his knees losing grip of his knife. The cowboy was persistent though as he grabbed the knife with his useable arm and sliced Jack in the stomach through his shirt, Jack held his gut and pulled back his bloody fingers. The cowboy got back to his feet and chuckled as he meet Jacks terrified eyes, Jack stood silent and so did the crowd. An injury like that would surely kill him Jack thought, but as he waited for his body to go into shock the cowboy looked down at the wound he had administered and his eyes went wide. Jack looked down at his stomach to see why the cowboy was in such a daze and watched as his deep cut began to heal itself, folds of skin began to overlap and merge back together like an invisible surgeon was sewing him up. The cowboy stared at Jack still wide eyed with his mouth open and Jack took his moment of paralysis to grab the cowboy by his shirt collar lift him up and drag him to the exit door of the club. Once next to the exit Jack threw the cowboy through the doors right at the feet of arriving police officers and the on duty bouncer who decided that waiting for back up would be the safest bet and Jack didn't blame him for ten dollars an hour. Jack met the stares of the surprised officers and began telling them what had happened inside.

Jack-" He ruffed me up a bit and came at me with a knife but he missed everything's ok though I just hope he gets some time to sober up before you let him out."

Cop-"O don't worry sir we'll take extra special care of this one thank you very much for your help."

The cops loaded the cowboy in the back of the squad car and began taking more information from witnesses some saying the knife missed Jacks stomach by inches others saying they could have sworn he got cut real bad but they must have been mistaken and blamed it on the clubs dimmed lights. Dillon and the girls meet up with Jack at the entrance of the club and Dillon immediately began interrogating him.

Dillon- "What the hell man all the sudden your superman where'd you get all this energy from?"

Jack wanted to tell his friend badly about the IAS9 and everything that had happened to him earlier but decided against it, just until he figured out what his next move was.

Jack-"Just a new diet bro, I told you to eat more greens take in more protein. I'm sorry man I got to get home I've got work early in the morning, ladies I had a lovely time."

With that Jack walked down the sidewalk until he was sure he was out of view of the club goers than he began to pick up his pace, than began to run full out faster than he had ever gone before and he was amazed that his asthma hadn't kicked in bringing his body to a grinding halt. He arrived home and immediately ran into his room and riffled through his bathroom medicine cabinet for the other IAS9 tablets, he found them and pulled them out of the envelope. Jack poured a glass of water and was about to take the other two capsules when he remembered the Doctors warnings about overdosing and what this drug could possibly do to his mind. Jack decided against taking them and placed the pills under his pillow and laid down, as he began to close his eyes the voice of Robert Menstrength rang in his head "Take two immediately when you get home….Take two more in the morning before a meal." Jack was awoken by his alarm clock he still had set to 7:15; He jumped out of bed and ran to his closet to get ready to go back to the Menstrength headquarters for more answers but stopped as he saw his reflection in the mirror. Jacks body didn't look as fit as it did the other night, he was still in great shape but his muscles weren't as defined and his energy level wasn't nearly as high. Jack decided to perform an experiment as he walked into Dillon's room and found it empty.

Jack-"He must have stayed the night at Candice's"

Jack said to himself as he grabbed a jump rope from under Dillon's bed moved some objects out of the way and began jump roping as fast as he could. Just as he suspected within minutes Jack was completely winded. Jack went back to his room and picked up the envelope containing the pills, opened it and took the last two. He then took a shower got dressed and drove to Menstrength pharmaceuticals like it was just another day at work. Jack waited for the elevator and checked his teeth in a chrome strip on the lobby wall until he heard the chime of the elevator reaching his floor. As he turned around a large brown medicine ball came flying out of the elevator, Jack caught it with no difficulty and began to spin it on his finger like it was a basketball. Jack tucked the ball in his arms and looked inside the elevator; Robert Menstrength was hunched against the wall with his left hand on his lower back.

Robert-"Good morning Mr. Canner glad you reconsidered joining us."

Jack walked inside the elevator and held the medicine ball out to the CEO. Robert shook his head and straightened up making his back crack violently.

Robert-"That's a fifty pound medicine ball Jack and you caught It and spun it around like it was a soccer ball I see you're enjoying your new medication but I hope you followed the instructions, it could be very dangerous if you don't."

Jack-"Took two last night and two this morning, I'm guessing the effects wear off?"

The elevator door opened on the 12th floor and Robert and Jack stepped out and walked toward Roberts's office.

Robert-"There's a lot you still need to learn about IAS9 and your position here Mr. Canner."

Robert opened the safe door to the secret elevator and Jack stepped in with him.

Jack-"You're absolutely right sir, O and by the way I'm going to need another contract mine…. fell in the trash."

Episode 3

"DESPERATE"

It was early in the morning at Menstrength Pharmaceuticals and Robert Menstrength was busy logging expense reports and filing employee records when his son Alexander Menstrength barged into his office unannounced.

Menstrengths receptionist- "I'm sorry sir I tried to tell him he needed to make an appointment like everyone else but he refused to listen."

Robert- "its okay Brenda I'll only be a couple moments if you'd please hold my calls."

Brenda shut the door behind Alexander and he immediately began lashing out at his father.

Alexander-"You're kidding me right?"

Robert-"A little too early for guessing games Alex what are you talking about"

Alexander-"The IAS9 drug trails you're giving it to some hot shot hero rent-a-cop?"

Robert-"Don't talk about Jack Canner like that Alex you hardly know the man and I assure you he's got more heart and courage than you know."

Alexander-"Really? Even more heart and courage than me dad, if I remember correctly I served this country twice in Iraq and I got shit for doing it."

Robert-"If I also remember correctly Alex you also got dishonorably discharged for hitting a superior officer, a mistake that rolled downhill to me when I had to use my military connections to get you out of hot water."

Alexander-"That was a bullshit charge and you know it Sergeant Dennis was asking for it how he constantly pushed us with his micromanagement."

Robert-"Still that gives you no reason to beat him to almost unconsciousness, you've got a real anger problem son even your therapist says so why don't you attend more sessions and try to work with these issues."

Alexander-"I don't have any issues dad I just don't let people push me around unlike you."

Robert-"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Alexander-"You know that IAS9 can be worth billions if we looked more into tweaking its flaws and up sell it to the general public, why do you let your own scientists and the FDA hold you back why don't you fight?"

Robert-"Because that's what my scientists and the FDA are around for son to keep us in check, I'd love nothing more to see IAS9 hit the streets and wipe out these plagues but you and I both know the adverse effects on some people can be extremely dangerous."

Alexander-"Some people, SOME, IAS9 is a miracle drug that only affected 2 out of 10 people poorly and you're going to let that stop you . What would the world be if we let those 2 out of 10 people that were allergic to penicillin write the rules?"

Robert-"Penicillin didn't cause people to become homicidal maniacs Alex."

Alexander-"Once again dad only a few, I've heard that IAS10 perfected these flaws."

Robert- "How did you hear about IAS10? It's still in the formula phase no one but me and a few men on my team are even aware of its existence"

Alexander-"I have my ways dad, now I say instead of testing a potentially dangerous drug on a washed up wanabe you pursue IAS10 push this drug to its full potential and run this company like grandpa wanted it, affordable medication for the masses and free of any influence by the government. Can't you see with this military contract your just a puppet, turning a cure into a weapon it's not right."

Robert-"I don't like it anymore than you do but we need their funding otherwise thousands of our employees are going to lose their jobs when Menstrength goes under is that what you want."

Alexander-"This is bigger than a couple people IAS10 could change the world let me be the one to test it for its cure purposes rather than its super human aspect."

Robert-"I know this lymphoma is eating away at you son, but IAS9 was technically a failure and there's no guarantee IAS10 will be any better. If anything were to happen to you I don't know how I'd forgive myself especially after your mother…No absolutely not we will find another way you just have to fight harder Alex go back to your chemotherapy sessions."

Alexander-"NO I'M TIRED OF FIGHTING. I'VE BEEN FIGHTING ALL MY LIFE I NEED THIS YOU CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN YOUR JUST SCARED YOU DON'T NEED TO TREAT ME LIKE A GODDAMN CHILD."

Alexander pushed Roberts's computer off his desk and scattered his paperwork on to the floor.

Robert- "It's not that simple son, with your post traumatic stress from the war and the toll this cancer has taken on your body it's just not safe physically or mentally."

Alexander turned around and stormed out of his father's office.

Alexander-"I don't need your permission."

Alex said under his breath as he slammed the door.

Robert-"What was that Alex?"

Alexander-"Nothing."

Alexander said as he made his way to the elevator, once inside he pulled out his cell phone and angrily mashed some buttons, he held it to his ear and began talking to an unknown person on the other end.

Alexander-"He didn't go for it, time for plan B meet me at my car in twenty minutes…. I don't know how you get them out just get them out you know what will happen if you don't, we'll do the briefcase thing again like we talked about."

Alexander got out of the elevator on the underground parking floor; he briskly walked to his sports car and waited impatiently for his mystery man. Dr. Joseph Mixer a partner with Dr. Clyde stepped off the elevator and began walking in the direction of Alexander's car. Once Joseph was close enough to Alex, Alex reached over and grabbed a briefcase from under his passenger seat and stepped out of his car. Alex began walking towards Joseph while Joseph pretended to read a file that was in his hand, Alex waited till Joseph started to slow to a halt in the area they had previously mentioned before, an area with a blind spot for the security cameras. In case any bystander was watching, Alex and Joseph choreographed an elaborate way to exchange items and information. The two men acted as if they were in a hurry and didn't see each other as they bumped into one another and Alexander knocked Dr. Mixer's briefcase and items out of his arms. As Alex apologized and bent down to help the Doctor gather his things he quickly swapped his briefcase with an identical case a move they had done once before.

Dr. Joseph Mixer- "This is insane Alex, messing with this drug is going to get you killed and me arrested. Would you at least come in for a scan to make sure… you know?"

Alexander-"I feel fine Joseph; you let me worry about what happens to me you just keep making your deliveries and everything will work out for the both of us."

Joseph-"What if I'm done putting you and I in danger, God damn it man I'm a scientist I'm supposed to be helping people I'm done I'm going to take this up with your father."

Alexander- "Go ahead, I'm sure your wife would be happy to receive some risky photos of you and the janitor. What's his name again, Mickey? Do you really want to put your family through that embarrassment? And when my father finds out you've been fraternizing with the help you'll lose your job anyways, I've got the pictures at home right now all I've got to do is drive home, pick them up and…"

Joseph-"No, no you've made your point Alex I'll keep this up for as long as I can but that last delivery I gave you should have lasted you six days it's only been three what's going on?"

Alexander-"To clear your conscience let's just say I lost some… Jesus Doc what did you expect that IAS9 formulas not working as expected."

Joseph-"Alex you can't be overdosing like that its extremely dangerous, you have a rare serious case of lymphoma it's going to take more than a couple sessions with IAS9 to cure it up, you just have to be patient. Like you requested I've included the new batch of IAS10 and two vials of accelerant one to be used today with two pills and the other at the end of the week. All of this should get you once step closer to a cure."

Alexander-"This shit better work; it should have cured me days ago that's what it did with the patients in the drug trials."

Joseph-"IAS has never been applied to a case as serious as yours and you have to understand that it is slowly working, at this late stage in your cancer you shouldn't even be walking."

Alexander-"I don't feel so lucky I wish you could live just one day in my shoes with the fevers, the nausea, night terrors and body aches that make you wish you were dead."

Joseph-"You just have to stick to the regiment and please come in for a CAT scan for your own safety I'm begging you."

Alexander-"When I have some time I will, goodbye Doctor."

Alex finished helping Joseph collect his paperwork and walked back to his car, he drove past the security post trying to be as casual as possible but the guard stopped him before he exited the gate.

Guard- "Your father called."

Alex's body went into chills as he braced himself to ram through the gate if the guard tried to stop him.

Alexander-"Ok what did he want"

Guard-"He wanted to apologize and asked you to come down to meet Mr. Canner on Thursday, something about an introduction before a big meeting this Friday."

Alex knew exactly what his dad meant; Robert wanted him to meet with the IAS9 candidate before they showcased him in front of the board of directors for the military. This was his dad's foolish attempt at patching up with Alex trying to get him to feel like he had any stake in the company and to condone his decisions with recruiting this new guy for the role that Alex believed he should be a part of. But still Alex was intrigued to see how the effects AIS9 added with the accelerant worked on a healthy person.

Alexander-"Tell him I'll be there"

Alex said as the guard opened the gate and he began to drive home, Alex didn't know if it was the excitement from nearly being caught or the cancer but his body felt weak and he pulled over to the side of the freeway to vomit. Once he was back in his car Alex straightened his hair while looking at himself in his rearview mirror, to Alex's surprise and horror his nose was bleeding profusely like it had done many times since he had been diagnosed. Alex stuffed tissues into his nostrils and continued driving and was almost home when a horrible migraine struck him. Alex sat in his car screamed and rubbed his head till the pain had settled than grabbed the briefcase and ran into his house. Alex had become fed up with these daily struggles with his cancer making him weak and useless this was the worst possible state for a soldier, so he decided to kill this disease once and for all. Alex walked into his garage and grabbed a roll of duct tape, he ran back into his bathroom opened the briefcase and set out the two metal vials containing the aerosol gas accelerant for the IAS10 and put them on the corner of his bath tub. Alex took a moment to catch his breath vomited again in the toilet than used the duct tape to seal off the underside of the bathroom door and all the air-conditioned and heating vents. After he double checked to see if the room was sealed air tight he lay inside his empty bath tub closed the shower curtains and opened the valves for both accelerants, while the gas was fuming he grabbed four IAS10 capsules from the pill case Dr. Mixer had provided and swallowed them all at once. Alexander closed his eyes and inhaled the accelerant deeply as his tired body went limp and he dozed off to sleep.

THE NEXT DAY….

Jack woke up put on his uniform and drove to work not knowing at all what to expect for his first day of training. Once he got through security the receptionist told him Robert Menstrength was waiting for him in the employee gymnasium. Jack swiped his new employee badge at the scanner for the gym entry door and walked in, the door slammed behind him and locked. Jack walked in and an unknown assailant dressed in all black jumped from the shadows and began attacking him with a fury of punches and kicks. Jack tried his best to defend against him attacker with his basic knowledge of self defense but this man was far more advanced than him and with a couple strikes took Jack to the floor and put him in a choke hold.

Robert-"That's enough Daniel, thank you."

Robert Menstrength turned on the gymnasium lights and walked over to help Jack to his feet. Jacks attacker took off his mask and turned to meet Jack.

Robert-"Mr. Canner I'd like you to meet Daniel Trend a mix martial arts instructor and unarmed combat specialist."

Jack rubbed his neck and extended his hand for a shake and Daniel reluctantly did the same and spoke to Jack in a thick British accent.

Daniel- "Thought you'd be a lot more tuff mate from what the good doctor and Mr. Menstrength had told me."

Jack smirked and tightened his grip on Daniels hand until he saw the pain in the muscular man's face.

Jack-"Still learning" Jack replied

Robert-"Mr. Trend is here to get you in shape for you upcoming daubed, you're going to undergo rigorous strength and combat training and you've only got about a week to do this so I hope you got plenty of rest and took you medicine this morning."

Jack nodded his head yes not wanting to open up too much about the IAS9 not knowing how much they told Daniel Trend.

Robert-"Good once again I'm sorry for the short notice on things but we searched for a very long time for someone like you and I know you won't let me down. O and don't worry about sweating the details with Mr. Trend here, he knows everything about the IAS9 trials and isn't afraid to get hurt so give him all you've got."

Robert made his way to the gym door and swiped his card, Jack turned around for one final question.

Jack-" How the hell am I supposed to learn all of this in just one week it takes a normal person like two years to master this and to get into any sort of shape to actually use it."

Robert-"You forget Jack you're not normal anymore with the effects of IAS9 comes an increase in mental capacity in short Jack you've got almost a near picture perfect memory, all these moves it would take a normal person months to begin to comprehend you'll pick them up in a matter of days. You two have fun now"

With that Robert left the Gym and Jack turned back to meet a smiling Daniel Trend in a fighting stance.

Jack- I don't suppose, I'm a beginner please go easy, is going to help me out?"

David responded with a quick jab to Jack's nose blurring his vision and making him bleed. Daniel swung around with a sweeping kick, took out Jack's legs and sent him to the floor. Daniel attempted to stomp down on Jack's torso with his heel but Jack quickly rolled out of the way and got back to his feet.

Davidl- You're quick my friend but your strength and speed will only get you so far, Menstrength's told me the military's going to throw everything they've got at you and they're going to be a lot harder to beat than some obnoxious cowboy."

Jack-"How do they know about that?"

David- "You didn't think they'd be watching you? You're bodies their property mate until this whole thing is done"

David lunged at Jack with another kick and the two men fought for hours all the while Jack began to quickly pick up on the techniques and holds to take down an attacker.

THREE DAYS LATER…

Jack was getting stronger and faster with the daily training and IAS9 intake and after getting his ass handed to him daily from David he was becoming much more advance in his combat training, so advanced that he was at a point were even David Trend was having a hard time keeping up. David had just rolled off the mat from a devastating strike from Jack that knocked him to his knees and held up his hand to stop Jack as he came in for the final blow.

David-"Ok, ok friend you've proven yourself I need a break, go home early today and we'll start bright and early tomorrow with your weight and speed training."

THE NEXT DAY….

Jack had never been worked out so intensely like he did this day, four straight hours of weight lifting proved to him that he was capable of lifting over six hundred and fifty pounds barely breaking a sweat and another four hours of extensive speed training on the treadmill helped him top out at a running speed of twenty eight miles an hour. Now as they rounded out the end of their training David and Jack cleaned up and started for the locker rooms when they were stopped by Robert and Alexander Menstrength.

Robert- "Mr. Canner, Mr. Trend may I introduce my son Alexander Menstrength"

Alex held his hand out, quickly shook David's hand and rudely ignored a general question when Alex turned and focused all of his attention on Jack who was still unaware that Alex was a fellow IAS user.

Alexander- "Jack Canner, a pleasure to meet you"

Jack-"Pleasures all mine."

Jack and Robert shook hands and a sudden flood of hatred from Alex, who looked down on who he thought was this undeserving man, made Alexander squeeze tightly around Jacks hand. Even with Jack's higher tolerance for pain he felt the bones of his fingers and palm began to crack and ripped back his hand. Alex saw Jack's reaction and quickly changed the subject.

Alexander-"Well my dad and I just wanted to see your progress before the big day tomorrow, but now that I see we have nothing to worry about I'll leave you to rest up."

Jack-"Thanks it was nice to meet you."

Jack said still perplexed about the CEO's son's immense strength, but Jack had been working hard for almost a week now and was exhausted. He could have just been imagining things, Robert didn't look like the type to use an experimental drug on his own flesh and blood, or maybe he would either way Jack had to make sure he hadn't just hallucinated that event. As David, Robert and Alexander talked Jack walked into the lockers and grabbed his gear bag, than when he was sure no one was looking he ran into the weight room. A couple minutes later Jack met up with the rest of the three and together they all exited the gym and made their way out to the lobby, Jack stopped and cursed under his breath.

Jack-"Damn, I forgot my truck keys in my locker, Alexander if you wouldn't mind holding my gear bag I'll be right back."

Alexander-"No problem Jack." Alex forced a smile as he grabbed Jacks bag with one hand and effortlessly threw it over his shoulder.

Jack ran into the corridor as a cold shiver ran down his spine, he ran back out to meet the three, said his goodbyes and walked out to his truck. Jack pretended to look for the right key until the three others left the parking lot. Once the three had drove out of the lot Jack threw his bag on the tailgate of his truck. The suspension of his old pick up sagged under the weight of his bag, Jack cursed under his breath he knew he had to talk to Robert immediately.

EPISODE 4

"SOLDIER FROM BIRTH"

It was now Friday, Jacks big showcase day for the military higher ups and even though Jack remembered every bit of his training he was still nervous and unsure of exactly what he had gotten himself into. On top of that somehow he had to confront Robert about his son's experimentation with the IAS9 drug, if Robert didn't know about it already. Jack took his two daily IAS9 pills waited fifteen minutes and studied himself in the mirror. As he stood there he watched his muscles grow and flex and concluded that the affects of IAS9 had a minimum incubation period of fifteen minutes.

Jack-"Ok, that's good to know."

Jack said as he got dressed, said goodbye to Dillon and walked out the door. Jack had purposely left a half hourly early so he could catch up and confront Robert before Alex showed up to go to the military base. Once Jack was on property he quickly parked and ran to the elevator, he jumped out and made his way past Roberts's secretary completely ignoring her and darted into his office were Robert was standing by the full length mirror that hid the secret elevator using it to adjust his tie.

Robert-"Jack, good to see you and although I admire your excitement the convoy to the base doesn't leave for another half hour, so why don't you go downstairs and grab some coffee and….."

Jack-"Cut the shit Robert, you lied to me; you said I was the only one undergoing this trial why did you even need me when you have your kid on it too? Am I the guy who took the really scary stuff so you guys can watch my brain melt or whatever and he gets the better batch? What the hell is going on?"

Robert-"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean Mr. Canner, I'm sure that Alexander is not taking IAS9 I strictly forbid him from doing such a thing."

Jack –"Don't lie to me man I found out your little scheme yesterday when I met the little bastard."

Robert-"You watch your tone Mr. Canner and especially watch what you say about my son, or I'll make your life a living hell, there is no way that Alex is…"

Jack interrupted his boss as he scooted some paper work off his desk and slammed his gear bag on top of it, the metal clinking sound of weights erupted from inside the bag.

Jack-"Pick it up."

Robert-"I don't know what the hell's gotten into you Jack but maybe we should discontinue any further trials until…."

Jack- "JUST PICK UP THE GODDAMN BAG!"

Robert reached underneath his desk and pushed a button that triggered a silent alarm to hail his security team. Robert cautiously placed his hands on the gear bag straps and attempted to lift it off his desk and after several attempts at straining to pick up the heavy bag he gave up and looked back up at Jack.

Robert-"What game are you trying to play here Jack?"

Jack unzipped his bag and individually picked up each weight and threw it on the floor counting each one as he did.

Jack-"Each one of those weights is fifty pounds, there is one, two, three, four of them I know you know how to add now explain how your son who is NOT on IAS9 can lift a two hundred pound bag with one arm?"

Just than Roberts security team came rushing through the door but Robert looked down at the four weights and held his hand up to halt the guards.

Robert-"It's ok gentleman Mr. Canner was just suggesting a drill to test your guy's response time and I'm very pleased, you can leave now."

Once the guards had left the room Robert lowered his voice and continued his conversation with Jack.

Robert- "I assure you Jack I had no idea what Alexander was doing this was all behind my back I swear to you ,and I will personally see to it that nothing like this ever happens again I'll find my weak link in the chain who's been supplying my son and this will stop immediately."

Jack thanked Robert and began walking towards the door when Robert stopped him again.

Robert- "Alexander has stage 4 Lymphoma, he's terminal and begged me to let him test a new batch of IAS10 a more concentrated higher dose of IAS9. What my son refused to grasp was that IAS10 was nothing more than a continuation of its predecessor designed for patients with long term exposure to the drug whose bodies become immune."

Jack-"I'm sorry about Alex Robert but you said it yourself this could be dangerous if not given to the right person and monitored strenuously, either you take him off or I'll be forced to. You know as head of your security division I have the right to arrest thieves that includes your son; I'll see you at the meeting."

Jack exited the door, closed it on his way out and took the elevator downstairs to the lobby where he was met by two soldiers in camouflaged gear that directed him to a group of jeeps that were waiting to take him Robert and Alexander to the military base for the demonstration. Jack sat back inside the jeep and saw through the window Alex walk through the parking lot to meet with his father, as Alex walked by him and Jack locked hateful eyes.

Alexander-"Ok, let's get this over with you know I only agreed to see this freak show because you pretty much begged me too so…"

Robert-"Shut up Alex, how long have you been taking the IAS10?"

Alex's body went numb as he stared at his father his mouth partly open in surprise.

Alex-"What the hell are you talking about IAS10; I'm not on it who told you that?"

Robert- "Don't lie to me Alexander you think I'm stupid? You think I'd never find out? I know everything that happens on my site."

Alex-"Well obviously not everything dad, I've been on it for almost three weeks now and you had no idea until the rent-a-cop said something huh?"

Robert-"My God Alex what are you thinking? Do you know how dangerous this could have been? Please tell me you at least got a scan to make sure you're not sick."

Alex-"I didn't even bother with the stupid scan because I feel great, the IAS9 barely helped and I admit I was becoming worried but the IAS10 is a complete success I've never felt better in my life."

One of the soldiers walked up to the two arguing men and advised them that the convoy was now behind schedule and that they had to leave immediately. Alex and Robert got into a separate Jeep from Jack and the convoy began moving out there was an uncomfortable silence between the father and son pair until Robert noticed Alexander's hand twitching uncontrollably, the first sign of brain melting.

Robert-"Alex give me your I.D. badge."

Alexander- "Why?"

Robert-"Because as of now I'm revoking your security clearance and taking you off IAS10 until further testing can be done to see the extent of the damage its caused you."

Alexander-"This is bullshit, I feel fine" Alex growled back at his father.

Robert-"Alex give me your badge or I'll have one of these nice young soldiers take it from you."

Alex ripped the badge from his shirt and threw it in his father's lap.

Robert-"You know what this could have done to the company if you would have went crazy mad in the general public on my drug?"

Alexander-"You'd rather let me die than have your company suffer poor press wouldn't you?"

Robert didn't even dignify his sons question with a response as the convoy pulled up to the gate of a remote military installation and another soldier checked IDs and let the jeeps pass. Once the Jeeps parked Jack began to feel even more nervous and unsure if he could even go through with all this but a reassuring pat on the back and a couple kind words from Robert helped Jack reclaim some of his confidence, Alex saw this and became even more enraged. The soldiers directed Robert and Alexander to their box seats that sat above what appeared to be a small stadium built just for military demonstrations of prototype weaponry. Meanwhile Jack was escorted to the middle of the stadium floor and was told to stand there and wait for further instructions by a very rude soldier, Jack threw the soldier a salute with his middle finger as the soldier walked off and stood at the opposite end of the stadium. Up top in their seats Robert and Alexander meet with General Harvey Caldwell and others who would be overseeing the demonstration to see if IAS9 would be a cost worthy and efficient replacement for their SOLDIERS FROM BIRTH program. General Caldwell stepped up to a microphone and began addressing his fellow board members and the three men from Menstrength Inc.

General Caldwell- "Gentlemen, we are gathered here today to put to the test two modern marvels of science both made for very different purposes. The IAS9 drug was originally made for a sort of super cure for all known diseases and cancers but showed a much more promising affect on a healthy individual. It gave them increased strength and speed it is with great pride that I introduce that very healthy man below Mr. Jack Canner, which some of you may remember as the recent hero in the bank robbery some weeks ago."

The entire room applauded for Jack something that he was becoming accustom to after the Bank robbery, once the applause died the General continued his speech.

General Caldwell- "The other form of human advancement is what we now call the S.F.B. program or SOLDIERS FROM BIRTH. We selected specific gene qualities from hundreds of soldiers; qualities we believed would make a perfect soldier and spliced those genes together. With an addition of a diet plan geared towards positive human growth, vitamins, steroids and military training from the moment it is born these SFB units live everyday like it's a war zone. They feel no pity or remorse, are brave and trustworthy and have been instilled with extreme discipline making them fearless and obedient; they'll follow your orders till the end to achieve mission success. Gentlemen may I introduce to you SFB Unit 016."

The rude soldier Jack had flipped off earlier immerged back into view and stood at attention in the middle of the stadium as applause once again erupted this time a little louder, Jack felt like the away team on the home team's field. Jack hadn't noticed before but this soldier was huge; he stood at about 6'5'' two hundred and fifty pounds easy and stood completely emotionless in his well tailored cammies.

General Caldwell-"Soldier announce yourself and your mission here today." The General ordered the statue of a man.

Unit 016- "SIR, SFB UNIT 016 REPORTING SIR, UNIT 016 IS PRESENT TODAY TO ENGAGE JACK CANNER IN HAND TO HAND COMBAT IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY YOUR CHOICE FOR A HUMAN ADVANCEMENT TECHNIQUE TO USE TO BUILD BETTER SOLDIERS, SIR."

All of Jacks previous confidence dwindled away as this human machine barked his mission out perfectly to the General and his team. Jack began to curse and swear at Robert, he didn't sign up for this he thought he be punching and kicking a couple soldiers or two not going toe to toe with a synthetic super soldier that was designed to beat the living shit out of him. But before Jack could get his whit's about him the General nodded to both men on the ground and that signaled the start of the demonstration, Jack didn't give himself anymore time to freak out and pushed himself to strike first to show the big brute he wasn't afraid. Jack ran full speed towards the soldier in an attempt to take him to the ground but the soldier anticipated that move and quickly side stepped back kicked Jack strategically in the side of his forward moving knee which sent Jack falling into the arms of the soldier. The soldier picked Jack up over his head knelt to the floor and brought Jack down on his knee cracking vertebra in Jacks back, then rolled the paralyzed man off his knee. Jack lay there assumingly beaten as he gasped for air and almost blacked out from the pain but the effects of the IAS9 took hold of him and began to repair his tattered bones. Unit 016 stood at attention giving his opponent a moment to surrender but was surprised to see Jack's spine rearrange itself to a functioning position and Jack rise to his feet ready for round two. The General stared in amazement at the healing power of the IAS9 drug and looked to Robert Menstrength whose eyes were barely open from the pain he felt for Jack, the General also noticed a huge smirk across Alexander's face as Jack took a beating. Unit 016 came at jack with a barrage of punches which Jack strategically blocked amazing himself by how fast he had become and how easily he had picked up these moves. A misplaced haymaker from Unit 016 gave Jack the perfect opportunity to wrap the soldier's right arm into a standing arm lock. Unit 016 knelt down and attempted to break free but Jack applied more pressure in an effort to stop this fight that moment, Unit 016 showed no pain or emotion though as he dislocated his own arm and swung around with his left fist to meet Jacks sternum sending Jack stumbling back. Unit 016 stood and snapped his right arm back into its socket and attacked again this time with kicks that when connected knocked the wind out of Jack. Jack blocked a kick and began to focus on a game plan of hitting the soldier than allowing him to attempt to strike back; he would block those hits making the soldier wind himself than Jack would strike again when Unit 016 had no energy left to fight. This strategy was working brilliantly until Jack lashed out to early and in a flash Unit 016 was behind him with his arms wrapped around Jacks ribs squeezing the life from his body. Jack tried to wriggle free but the soldier had him in a death grip and had now even lifted him off the floor so Jacks dangling legs couldn't push him back into anything. Jack did the only thing he could and reached back to gouge Unit 016 eyes with his thumbs and this move actually made the brute loosen his hold making it manageable for Jack to rip free the rest of the grip. As Jack hunched over allowing the IAS9 to repair his broken ribs and Unit 016 rubbed the blood from his eyes the General commended Robert on a job well done. The two men were in full form again and Unit 016 came at Jack with a flying knee, Jack darted back and allowed the soldier to come crashing down and Jack threw his hip into a tremendous punch that sent Unit 016 sliding on his back along the floor. Jack went for the final blow but Unit 016 kicked him back from the floor and Jack decided to be patient and wait till he got up. Once on his feet again Unit 016 attacked mercilessly with punches some landed some didn't but the fight alone was weighing heavily on both men's stamina and Jack decided he needed to end this before he burned through the IAS9 too quickly and died out there. Jack blocked the last of Unit 016's punches and went for a sweeping kick that Unit 016 barely jumped over once the soldiers feet were firmly planted he lunged for Jack hugged him around his stomach and slammed him into the wall as he tried one again to crush his ribs and throw him to the ground. Jack hammer punched the soldier in his exposed kidneys and heard the soldier grunt and growl from the pain. Finally with one more blow to the soft tissue Jack achieved what he wanted and the soldier released his hold backed off and went for Jacks throat with an open hand. Jack swatted Unit016s hand away and pushed him back, once there was some distance Jack kicked an ever advancing Unit 016 in the gut making him stumble backwards .When he came back with another punch Jack became very fed up with this repetitive ass beating. Jack caught Unit 016's fist in his hand and began to squeeze with all his might, Unit 016 dropped to his knees in pain and swung around with another punch. Jack collected that fist in his other free hand as well and applied almost three hundred pounds of crushing power to both captured fists. When Unit 016 tried to get back to his feet Jack kneed him in the face, released his fists and landed one final blow, a fierce backhand that laid the soldier out in an unconscious heap on the floor. The General saw his SFB Units defeat and ordered Jack to do one more thing before the demonstration concluded.

General Caldwell- "Excellent, very impressive Mr. Canner and all that with just a week's worth of exposure to IAS9 outstanding, now if you'd please dispose of that failed creature over there."

Jack-"What do you mean?"

Jack asked as his stood over the awakening Unit 016 and dug his boot into his side to keep him on the floor.

General Caldwell- "Aw you know what I mean son, I want you to kill him please he is of no use to me anymore, he's served his purpose."

Jack looked down at the damaged synthetic soldier and kicked his body away as he nonchalantly replied to the General.

Jack-"Naw, killings not my style."

General Caldwell- "That's an order Canner!"

Jack- "I'm not one of your little obedient soldiers who are going to lockstep to the beat of your drum General, this demonstration over you can make your decision now."

General Caldwell- "O, I've made my decision I will take the IAS9 formula but I won't be needing its user I'll use it with my SFB units, you're dismissed Mr. Canner. To think of how many strings Robert pulled to try and get you enlisted in the service, you would have been a ranking Officer but you were too stupid."

Jack looked up towards Robert who wore a blank expression that Jack couldn't read.

Jack- "I'm sorry Robert, I had no idea."

General Caldwell- "Well you had to have some questions about what you were going to do after this." You're a human weapon now and an affective one at that what did you think, huh? That you were going to run around the city in a cape and mask saving people and rescuing damsels in distress?"

Jack-"I…Never thought about what happens next, I'm sorry Robert."

Robert smiled and looked down at his friend.

Robert-" No need to apologize Jack, you showed me right now that I absolutely picked the right man for this test and General if you think we're just going to hand over our formula so you can start mixing it with God knows what that you have in those abominations you call soldiers than you are sorely mistaken."

Robert stood up and ordered Alex to follow him; Alex hesitated for a moment but then stood and began to follow his father towards the door.

General- "You've got to be kidding me Menstrength, that drug was made with military funding you think you can just walk away from this and not give me what's rightfully ours?"

Robert- "What are you going to do General arrest me? Kill me? IAS9 was made before your funding and still has flaws and I'll tell the president himself that if he comes looking for it. Nobody's going to want a drug that has side effects like IAS9 except yourself and one wrong move from you General, or if you even think about coming for my drug all I have to do is make a phone call and the guys at my lab will incinerate everything."

Robert and Alex walked out the door as the General yelled behind them.

General-"YOU'RE MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE MENSTRENGTH, THERE GOES ALL YOUR FUNDING MENSTRENGTH INC'S GOING UP IN FLAMES WITHOUT ME."

Robert- "I'll find another way I always do."

With that Robert exited the room but Alex lingered behind just long enough to shake the Generals hand.

Alexander-"General, pleasure to meet you."

General showed a puzzled look on his face as he pulled back from his hand shake with a crumpled piece of paper, the General took a quick look at the note and quickly stuffed it in his pocket. Alex and Robert walked downstairs to meet Jack all the while escorted by a team of soldiers on the Generals command. The door opened to the arena and Jack stepped out to meet the others and the three were quickly ejected from the property, Jack and Robert rode in one Jeep and Alex offered to ride in a separate one to avoid any further conflict. The driver of Alex's Jeeps cell phone rang and after a brief conversation with an unknown person the driver allowed some distance between the two Jeeps before he made a U-turn and headed back through the gates of the base, the soldier stepped out and opened Alex's door.

Soldier-"The General would like to speak with you, follow me."

Alex followed the soldier back into the stadium, down a poorly lit corridor and into a separate room inside the General was standing waiting with a badly beaten Unit 016 close by guarding him.

General- "You said you can help me get the drug, how?"

Alex- "What if I told you my father was holding out on you?" That he has a much more powerful form of IAS9."

General-"Go on."

Alex-"It's called IAS10 a more concentrated higher dose of 9 and I can deliver it to you right here right now."

General- "And where do you get this formula?"

Alex held out his arm and pointed at his swelling veins that were rich with IAS10 from overdosing.

Alex-"I've been taking it for weeks now and everything you need to reverse engineer your own batch is in my blood."

The General looked at Alex dough fully, rolled his eyes and chuckled.

General- "I know your father Alex and he wouldn't give an experimental drug with those kinds of side effects to his own kin, what kind of fool do you think I am?"

Alex lunged forward and pushed the General to the floor, Unit 016 darted towards Alex to cut him off and protect the General. Alex smiled at the super soldier, and with a powerful strike slammed his fist in the soldiers gut, dug deep and grabbed his spine in his hand.

Alexander- "Don't worry big man I wasn't going to hurt him just wanted to get your attention."

The General stood up wide eyed from the amazing strength Alex had just displayed and Alex tugged back his arm from the soldiers belly breaking his spine in two, Unit 016 fell to a lifeless heap on the floor.

Alexander- "Believe me now?"

General- "That's amazing, you're more powerful than Canner. Ok Alex you've proven your point what is it you want for your blood?"

Alex-"Well sir I've been recently cut off from my supply and without it it's only a matter of time before I get weak and die. What I want in return for my blood is unlimited access to IAS10 …O and money, lots of money."

General- "I think we can work something out." The General said as he held his hand out for a shake.

Alex wiped Unit 016's blood off on his dress shirt and grasped the Generals hand and shook to an evil partnership.

Episode 5

"HERO, MEET VILLAIN"

Jack did his security rounds at Menstrength Inc and as he checked the status of his guards he couldn't help but wonder what was next for him. With the military demonstration over and him blowing his shot at ever getting recruited what was he supposed to do now? Jack's alarm on his watch began to beep as 8'oclock blinked on its display and he took his daily two IAS9 pills. So far the past week he was still taking his pills and continued to get a steady supply from Dr. Clyde but there was no more training or demonstrations Jack was just going day by day as if everything was completely normal. Jack continued his rounds into the main laboratory and found it empty except for Dr. Michael Clyde studying something intensely under a microscope, he was so immersed in his work that when Jack came up tapped him on the shoulder Michael jumped up startled and knock over his microscope and the organism he was studying underneath. When the slide with the organism hit the floor it broke open and tiny dull gray insect looking creatures crawled along the floor until they began to slow and die.

Jack- "O my God I'm so sorry Doctor I didn't mean to freak you out like that, Shit I hope those things aren't dangerous or anything."

Dr. Michael Clyde-"No Jack don't worry about it I've been working night and day on perfecting IAS9 and I haven't slept. I'm at a dead end on the formula so I decided to go back to another experiment we were working on to try and clear my head."

Jack- "O yeah and what was that if you don't mind me asking."

Dr. Clyde smiled and told Jack to follow him as he walked to a glass vault and typed in a code, Dr. Clyde pulled out a metal collar contraption and injected a vial of those grey ant like organisms into a hole in the collar than handed it to Jack.

Dr. Clyde- "This is just another military funded experiment we were working on and considering our funding is about to get cut I figured I'd take one more look at it, try on the collar Jack don't worry about the fit its adjustable."

Jack studied the metal ringed collar refused and handed it back to the doctor.

Dr. Clyde- "Come on Jack its completely safe and you are still contractually obligated to be a subject in our experiments."

Jack thought a moment longer and decided to try it on, so far everything these men had done for him turned out great why not see what happens with this contraption. Jack wrapped the metal collar around his neck, attached the snaps and with the Doctors instructions adjusted the bands so it wouldn't choke him.

Dr. Clyde- "Now do you see those two inserts on the collar portion place your thumb and forefinger inside and press down that will activate the collar."

Jack did as the doctor said and pressed the buttons and immediately the dull gray bugs erupted from the collar and began to swarm Jacks body. Jack began to rip at the bugs with his hands but the doctor ordered him to stop and let the insects do their thing. Jack took a deep breath and let the bugs cover his body and as they did they began to mesh together encasing his entire body minus his face in a pliable grey coat of armor.

Jack- "Ok what the hell was all that about?"

Michael- "Those were microscopic mechanical organisms or Mechorgs for short. They were originally designed to cover military trucks and tanks to form a protective barrier but the military scientists were having problems getting the little buggers to stick to their vehicles. That's when they scrapped the project and sent it down to us for another look and we found out that the Mechorgs wouldn't adhere to anything inorganic. The Mechorgs only bonded with living tissue that's when we began human testing."

Michael walked away for a moment out of sight from Jack as Jack questioned more about the strange creatures covering his skin.

Jack-"So I'm covered in millions of little mechanical bugs?"

Michael- "Precisely." Michael yelled from his office as he returned into view with his hand behind his back.

Michael- "And when the Mechorgs fuse together they create a sort of body armor that's stronger than steel and lighter than Kevlar"

Michael pulled his arm from behind his back, in it was his pistol from his desk and the crazy doctor fired two rounds point blank at Jacks chest.

Jack- "What's your problem you fucking lunatic?"

Michael- "Jack, just watch."

Jack looked down at the two bullet holes in his Mechorg suit and watched the tiny bugs fill the voids and expel the bullets, they never broke his skin.

Jack- "Wow, That's incredible these little guys can really take a hit why hasn't the military jumped on this?"

Before Michael could answer the Mechorgs began to show Jack exactly why they were still in prototype phase. The bugs began to vibrate and squeeze Jacks body as they began to squelch. Jack dropped to the floor as his body began to seize from the Mechorgs vibrations.

Jack- "M…ichael ….make….make them….stttooooppp."

Michael calmly knelt down by Jacks seizing body and pressed another button on the side of the collar that expelled all the pent up aggression from the Mechorgs out of the side of the collar in a wavy energy field.

Michael- "Unfortunately the Mechorgs are unstable and will vibrate at such a high intensity that they create powerful energy that needs to be vented every thirteen seconds, otherwise they would crush their host to death. This of course is a very inconvient for the user and venting the Mechorgs energy is inevitable so I created a way to not only vent more practically but use that expulsion of energy as a weapon."

Michael waited for Jack to regain his composure than reached back into the safe and pulled out a pair of black gloves, he handed the gloves to Jack and allowed him to study them. Jack first noticed off the bat that the gloves had the same venting caps on the four knuckles of his hands like the one in the collar

Jack put the gloves onto his hands surprisingly a perfect fit. Michael had Jack follow him to an open area inside the Lab and explained the gloves use.

Michael- "Now as you can see each one of your hands has four venting caps on each knuckle, these caps focus and release the energy that the Mechorgs give off causing somewhat of an energy wave. When used correctly this energy can create a tremendous blow that can cause an enemy multiple impact injuries, concussion, unconsciousness and if the enemy is in close enough proximity even death."

Jack- "So a semi nonlethal burst of energy, a hippie rallies worst nightmare."

Jack said jokingly as he felt the familiar buzz of the Mechorgs start to overcome his body again.

Michael- "Now when you feel these little guys start to wiggle around hold your fist out and press that button on the side of the gloves forefinger with your thumb to vent the energy."

Jack waited until the Mechorgs became too aggressive for his body to take, presented his fist towards a stack of glass beakers on top of a table, pressed the button on the side of his forefinger knuckle with his thumb and vented the energy. The result of this was way more pleasing than Jack could have imagined, the energy flowed from the vent caps causing a cloudy wave that shattered the beakers and made the table somersault until that too hit the floor in pieces.

Jack-"O, I likey please say these are an early birthday present for good behavior?"

Michael- "Ha-ha unfortunately Jack if the military got wind that I was letting a civilian play with their toys we wouldn't just be broke, we'd be arrested."

Jack nodded and reluctantly hit the button on the collar causing the Mechorgs to retreat back into their storage unit inside.

Jack- "So a Mechorg suit huh? What else did the military have up their sleeves?"

Jack asked as he detached the collar, took off the gloves and handed them back to the doctor.

Michael- "O no, the Mechorgs were the militaries idea but the suit was mine. There is no way I'm going to let them take credit for my work I got the patent listed under High Energy Remote Operated battle suit, Or HERO suit for short."

Jack-"Clever." Jack said as he looked at his watch and realized he was running extremely late for his next property rounds

Jack- "Sorry Doc it was fun but I got to get back to the daily grind."

Michael- "Of course, but if you ever have any questions about your IAS9 trails or anything else don't hesitate to come find me. I heard how you did at the military testing and how you refused to kill that soldier. It really is people like you whom stand up to corruption even in the face of overwhelming odds; you're the kind of person this world needs more of. You could really make a difference Jack with or without the IAS9 and I'm sorry it took me so long to see that."

Jack thanked the doctor and walked out of the Lab to continue his rounds.

MEANWHILE….

Alexander Menstrength was sitting in a chair inside the same military base used for the demonstration hooked to an IV giving his 3rd donation of blood for the day to the General. The team of scientists were intrigued by how Alex could give so much blood and still be conscious but the IAS10 he was hungrily over taking daily was helping his body repair itself at three times the normal human rate, this included creating more blood. It had been about a week since Alex and the General made their side partnership under the nose of Robert and the General's scientists had already created several batches of their own from of IAS10 form Alex's blood. All was going according to plan, the General got his drug for his super soldiers and Alex continued to get an unlimited supply of IAS10 but today the General was not happy. General Caldwell stormed into the room and threw a file onto Alex's lap; Alex began to read the foreign scientific jargon before he addressed the General.

Alexander- "What is this shit Caldwell, I'm not a scientist?"

Caldwell- "This is a physical growth report of my SFB units that have been dosed with IAS10, if you weren't a total half whit you could see that even with dosing at dangerously high levels the units have only showed a minor advancement in strength and speed. What's the problem Menstrength why aren't my boys as strong as you? You going to give me what I need or should I just kill you now for wasting my time?"

Alexander- "You better remember who you're talking too Caldwell, I'm the one with the miracle drug and it's not my fault your scientists are a bunch of retards." Alex said as he jumped out of his chair and ripped the IV from his arm.

General- "We're cloning the IAS10 in your blood perfectly it's something on your end that's not right, what else did you take besides the IAS9 & 10?"

Alex- "Nothing Dr. Mixer only gave me what was in the briefcase, the pills and … O, I see now."

General- "What is it, tell me?"

Alex- "Mixer gave me an accelerant for the drug, that's how the affects worked so fast on Canner and me. That's what you need to get your units to meet your standards."

General- "Well how the hell am I going to get that?" The General asked as Alex threw on his jacket and began to walk for the exit, the General yelled at him as he walked away."

General- "You get whatever you need to get me some results Alex or you're done."

Alex ignored him as he walked out.

BACK AT MENSTRENGTH PHARMACEUTICAL…

Jack and his security team had been called into a meeting by Robert Menstrength and his team of lawyers.

Robert- "Good evening gentlemen, I called you all here today to give you a heads up about a potentially dangerous ex employee who has been stealing from our research and development division, my son Alexander Menstrength."

Jacks eyes went wide with surprise as Robert shared sensitive information with his staff.

Robert- "My son had been taking an experimental drug that causes a number of adverse mental and physical side effects. This issue was brought to my attention and I attempted to deal with it by taking him off the medication and ordering a daily CAT scan to assess the drugs damages but he hasn't shown up for a single scan and there's no telling how much more of this medication he has. Your orders are to be vigilant, monitor any strange shipments or activity from other personnel, at the moment we know someone inside our department has been sneaking him the drugs and until we know who treat everyone as a suspect. If for any reason my son does show up on property I want you to call Mr. Canner immediately before you call me, Mr. Canner will know what to do"

Robert looked at Jack with a reassuring expression and nodded before continuing.

Robert- "Alex on this medication could be very unstable and you should consider him very dangerous, be extra careful men and report anything you feel is suspicious that is all."

The security team exited but Jack stayed back to get answers to some very delicate questions but as he watched Robert stressfully deal with his legal team he decided to wait till later to ask them. Jack walked outside re –advised his men about the seriousness of the situation than they all parted ways and went to their respective posts.

TWO HOURS LATER….

Security Officer Blake Banks was manning the entry gate to Menstrength inc, even after several warnings about the need to be vigilant he was distracted by his cell phone and didn't even notice Alex Menstrength step up to the guard shack and knock on the glass. Banks jumped from his chair startled and his blood ran cold as he stared at the smiling face of Menstrength Inc's most wanted. Banks cautiously opened the window of the guard shack and addressed his visitor.

Blake Banks- "Good…. Good morning Mr. Menstrength how can I help you today?"

Alex- "Hey Blake how you doing? Listen man I'm in a rush to get some testing done and I was in such a hurry I forgot to grab my ID badge could you buzz me in?"

Blake gulped back his fear into his throat and excused himself to make a phone call

Blake- "Ok, just give me a minute to clear you through you know the protocol it will only take a minute."

Alex's smile disappeared as he realized he couldn't let Blake make that phone call. Blake looked down a moment to dial the extension to Canner's phone and when he looked up Alex was gone. Blake hung up the phone in mid dial, pulled his firearm from its holster and searched frantically for the supposed dangerous man. Blake walked to the exit door of the guard shack and peered through the window and in his shaken state knocked his coffee off over on to his paperwork on the counter and all over his pants. Blake cursed in pain from the hot liquid and wiped at it with a napkin, when he looked back up to continue his search he met the angry face of Alex Menstrength peering through the guard shack door. Blake went to aim his gun but in a flash Alex had punched through the double pane glass, grabbed Blake by his shirt collar and pulled him through the broken window. Alex threw the poor man to the floor but Blake rolled over onto his back and fired three times into Alex's chest, Alex stumbled backwards and dropped to his knees as he growled in anger and waited for his injuries to quickly heal, once he was back in full form Alex noticed a sharp, jagged piece of glass from the window on the floor. Alex grabbed the glass and charged the still downed security guard who fired the rest of his magazine into his oncoming attacker, this time the bullets didn't even faze him. Alex swung down with the shard of glass and angrily stabbed him repeatedly until Banks stopped struggling and inhaled his last dying breath. The other guards at their posts had heard the shots and frantically called over the radio for the status of their partner. After several moments and no response the other guards came darting in that direction and blocked Alex's path. One brave guard lead the others as he ignored the horrific sight of their dead comrade and the bloody shank Alex had in his hand pointed his gun and began giving orders.

Guard-"Alex, this is your one and only warning put the glass down and get to your goddamn knees or we will fire on you, do you understand?"

Alex ignored the guard's instructions and examined the terrified faces of his partners who now had their guns pointed at him as well. Alex menacingly walked towards the group of men as he gripped the glass shard more tightly causing it to cut into his hand drawing more blood. As a puddle of rich red blood began to collect beneath Alex, Jack ran to the aid of his men and tried to reason with him once more.

Jack- "Alex, please you don't want to do this, just put the glass down and we can figure this out ok, no one else has to get hurt."

Alex-"The only one that's going to get hurt is you Canner if you don't get out of my way."

Alex began to run full steam towards the team.

Jack- "ALEX NO!" Jack yelled as he pulled his gun and fired one round into Alex's head.

Alex stumbled for a moment than fell to the floor, Jack told his men to stand back as he crept closer to examine the body. As Jack knelt down to search for a pulse Alex's eyes rapidly opened and he swung around with the glass shard still in his hand and stabbed Jack in the head right in the soft tissue of his temple. Jack screamed and ripped the glass from his head and tried to land a punch to Alex's face before he could begin to get to his feet but Alex was too quick and rolled away from the blow as Jacks hand connected with concrete shattering the bones in his fingers from the force. Alex picked Jack up by his head with one hand and slammed him headfirst into the cement; Jack lay there in a crater dazed and unable to move as his eyed rolled wildly in his skull. He could only lie helplessly by as he listened to the gunshots from the guards, than the shots seized and the screams began. A moment later as Jack's body began to slowly heal from the serious injuries he heard the last of the screams than a sickening silence that shot a cold shiver down Jack's spine. Alex snapped the neck of the final guard and triumphantly marched away from the scene of his killing spree towards the lobby doors. Alex walked past the empty receptionist desk and hit the button for the elevator, as he was waiting he heard a murmured sob from underneath the receptionists desk and slowly crept in that direction. Alex grabbed the chair by the desk and threw it powerfully through the wall, underneath the desk was the receptionist who had taken to hiding when she saw Alex's onslaught outside. Alex smiled through bloody teeth and took a moment to pick at something in his gums with his tongue, after a moment he opened his mouth and spit a chunk of human flesh on to the floor next to were the receptionist was cowering. The receptionist began to cry hysterically while Alex wiped the remainder of the blood from his mouth and walked towards the elevator. Once inside Alex continued to pick the flesh from his teeth and bobbed his head to the elevator musicuntil he reached the floor of his dad's office, The doors opened and Robert was standing there waiting for him.

Alexander- "Hey pops sorry I missed my appointments but as you can see I'm all better now."

Robert- "Please Alex this isn't you this is a bad reaction to the drug, stop this now and I can help you."

Alexander- "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I NEED YOUR HELP!" Alex roared as he walked towards his father.

Alex stopped dead in his tracks just inches away from Robert and with a surprised look gazed down at a sharp letter opener sticking out of his gut; his father's shaking hand still grasping it.

Alexander- "Well that wasn't very nice" Alex said as he ripped the letter opener from his stomach and shove it into his father's chest the force of the hit picking him off the ground.

Robert- "No, Al…Alex…. I…I Love you." Roberts head fell limply to the side as Alex threw his father's body to the floor.

Alex knew he should be feeling some sort of emotion towards what he had just done but the overdosing leading to the advance mind melting made it impossible for Alex to feel any empathy and he just continued on his destructive path killing two more Menstrength employees as he made his way to his father's office. Once inside Alex grabbed the mirror hiding the secret elevator off the wall and took a moment to examine him. Alex noticed his muscles were bulging against his skin and his veins were a dark blue and his over grown bones looked like they were going to tear through. Alex licked his lips and spat on his reflection than threw the mirror to the floor where it exploded into pieces; Alex typed in the code to hail the elevator and sat there panting loudly as he growled out one more word before he got in.

Alexander- "….More…"

Jack snapped back into consciousness and gulped in a gasp of air, he rose from the crater his body had made from the force of the slam and stood quietly taking in the horrific sight in front of him. The four guard's bodies were bloody and torn to shreds and some even had bite marks and flesh missing from them. Jack ran towards the lobby doors thinking to himself how could Alex have turned into such a monster and if Jack continued these experiments would he be next? Jack ran through the lobby and aided the receptionist to her feet; she had been lying down paralyzed with fear after her run in with the beast that was now Alex. Jack snapped her out of her dazed state to ask where Alex had went, the receptionist pointed to the elevator and Jack already knew where Alex was heading. He jumped in the elevator and impatiently pushed the buttons, once it was at the twelfth floor the doors opened and Jacks eyes fell upon another sight that dropped him to his knees. Lying in a puddle of blood with a letter opener reading Menstrength pharmaceuticals stuck in his chest was the body of Robert Menstrength. Jack struggled back to his shaky feet and stared straight ahead and fought back tears trying to ignore the body of his dead friend and employer. As Jack continued to walk by, a still barely living Robert grabbed Jack by his ankle halting him; Jack knelt down by his friend and listened closely to his dying words.

Robert- "I…created a monster Jack….you're nothing like him, you'll never become him…don't…don't ever think you are…. promise me."

Jack wiped back a tear held his friends hand and promised while Roberts words came out weaker but still clear.

Robert- "You're a ...hero Jack… always have….been. Please stop him….somewhere ….in there is still my….son. The code to the safe…..10-27-1958…."

Jack- "I understand Robert, hold on for me just a little longer I'm going to go get the medical bag and some help." Jack began to stand but Robert pulled him back down and smiled.

Robert- "Joe, told me you liked the HERO suit… I thought it would…be appropriate to…to make some alterations….every hero….needs a…."

Roberts's last sentence trailed off as his eyes slowly closed and his hands went limp in Jacks, Jack closed his eyes chocked back more tears than opened them and intensely gazed down the hallway to Roberts's office. Jack tore through the debris on the floor and the shattered glass and typed in password for the elevator. Once in the Sub Lab the elevator doors opened and a cloud of smoke came billowing in, Jack dropped to the floor to get below the smoke thinking there was a fire but as his heart began to race and skin began to burn he realized he had felt these effects before, this was a smoke cloud of the IAS accelerant. Fearing the damage the accelerant might do to his body Jack held his breath and ran to the room where the hazmat suits were and threw one on. Once suited up Jack cautiously made his way through the smoke, more debris and the bodies of dead scientists. The alarms sounded and the strobe lights guided Jacks way through the horror show. Jack saw out of the corner of his eye a fast approaching object and ducked out of the way as a desk flew over his head and crashed against a wall. Jack jumped back to his feet and a monstrous Alexander Menstrength immerged through the smoke. With the overdose in accelerant and combination with the massive amount of IAS10 in his system Alex now stood about eight feet tall, his eyes were bloodshot red and the bones in his cheeks jutted out ivory white through his skin. His shirt was stretched and ripped from the growth and Jack noticed his left arm was slightly longer and larger than his right that was still partially human, the muscles of his left arm and in his chest erupted through the skin and Jack could make out the pink flesh underneath flex with every movement he made. Jack moved closer to the beast and searched for any humanity still left in Alex.

Jack- "Alex can you hear me? You need to stop this can't you see what you're doing to yourself you've become a monster."

Alex responded in a deep growl

Alex- "Monster…No Jack you were so busy being the hero that you didn't even notice me becoming the villain, and as we all know from the comics Jack a good hero needs a good villain."

Alex darted for Jack and swung with his powerful left arm but Jack managed to duck out of the way and roll to the wall, he grabbed a fire extinguisher pulled the pin and sprayed at Alex's face momentarily blinding him. Jack grabbed a lap coat off the floor jumped onto Alex's back, wrapped the coat around his neck and attempt to choke him out with it. Alex reached behind his back grabbed the coat and swung Jack over his head onto a nearby desk, Jack shook his head struggled for his breath and rolled off the desk to the floor as Alexander slammed down with his fist breaking the desk into shards of metal and wood. Jack jumped up with two feet and drop kicked the monster in the chest making Alex stumble backwards, while on the floor Jack grabbed a sharp piece of the broken metal desk leg and came at Alex with it. Jack swung through over and over cutting deep into Alex's chest but Alex managed to rip the desk leg from Jacks hands and back hand him to the floor. Jacks hazmat helmet tore open and his nose broke instantly, his vision went blurry from the hit and the blood, he blocked a couple hits from Alex but one solid punch broke through his guard and Jack toppled on the floor till he laid face down stunned from the awesome power of Alex. Alex stood over Jack and picked him up with by his neck with his abnormal left arm, he began to squeeze the life from Jack and as he did, roared and inhaled more accelerant. Alex continued his choke hold until he noticed his right arm grow and flex until it was as disfigured as his left. Alex used his new arm to slam Jack in the stomach and threw him through the wall were he landed in the sub basement. Jack groaned in pain as his wounds slower started to heal, he heard Alex in the other room gathering more accelerant vials, he could barely see through the smoke Alex throw accelerant into a metal boxed hand cart, tuck the cart under his arm and move into the elevator. Jack knew he couldn't take on Alex in the monstrous condition he was in, going one on one with him would be suicide, and he needed an edge. Jack noticed a light through a crack in a doorway, he kicked open the door and ran up a flight of stairs. He was about to go through the exit when he noticed the sign pointing to a hallway were the main lab was located. Jack ran down the hall cracking his nose back into shape as he did, he made it into the lab and saw his edge waiting for him in the glass safe. Alexander had made it outside easily slapping away anyone who tried to get in his way, once outside he was greeted with the loaded guns of more than a dozen Police Officers. Alex set the handcart down containing the accelerant vials and walked through a hail of gunfire and flipped the cop cars upside down making the Police scatter and retreat to a safer distance. Alex pummeled a couple of the slowly retreating Officers breaking bones and knocking them unconscious, he walked through another crowd of cops shooting round after round futilely at Alex's monstrous body and threw them like rag dolls. The few remaining cops sought shelter behind a wall and continued firing at Alex as the monster slowly crept towards them, he was feet away from their position when a loud swoosh and ground shaking thump caught Alex's attention. Alex turned around and saw Jack standing in a crater he had made from landing, he was wearing the HERO suit but with a few extra additions. The first and most noticeable was the helmet, the helmet was dark grey and connected to the back of the collar, the back of the helmet stood straight than curved at the top to cover Jacks face. Slits in the metal allowed the Helmet to fold up and settle into the back of the collar much like a collapsible top on a convertible car. In the front, the helmet had dark slits of bullet proof glass in each of the slits of collapsible metal allowing Jack to see out but other s could not see in making Jack a mysterious masked figure to everyone except Alex. The second addiction where a pair of boots that had the same venting equipment that was in the gloves and collar allowing Jack to vent the energy from the Mechorgs through his feet making him propel his body hundreds of feet in the air. Jack stood straight and yelled through his helmet.

Jack- "Alex, this shit stops now."

Alex- "O, wow look at the hero in his little costume you come back to play again?"

Jack- "Last warning asshole, drop to the floor or I'll drop you."

Alex- "Wow… now you're so bold but you've got to realize it's going to take more than just a new outfit to take me down."

Jack ran to the cart with the accelerant and grabbed it by the handle.

Jack- "You want this shit so badly go get it"

Jack yelled as he used all his strength to throw the cart into the trees. Alex screamed as he watched it sail through the air and Jack used this distraction to run up and slam Alex with his fist with all his strength and speed. Alex shook off the hits growled and kicked Jack to the floor, Alex turned and started running in the direction of the cart but Jack vented the Mechorgs energy through the gloves and the shockwave knocked Alex to his knees. Jack ran to Alex and round house kicked him to the side of the head, Alex swung back and missed Jack by inches and Jack vented the energy again knocking Alex to the ground on his stomach. Jack reached around Alex's neck and locked him up in a choke hold but Alex pushed off the ground and landed on his back crushing Jack breaking his grip around his neck. Alex stomped Jack on the ground with his disfigured foot that was protruding through his tattered dress shoes than walked over to grab the shotgun from inside a nearby police cruiser, Alex cocked the gun and whirled around anxious to finish Jack off but Jack was already back to his feet and grabbed the gun before Alex could point it at him. Jack and Alex wrestled with the gun for a moment; Jack head butted Alex over and over causing the glass in his helmet to crack, he ripped the gun away from the monster, grabbed him by his neck and directed the Mechorg energy to his feet. The energy launched Jack off the floor and together he and Alex soared into the sky, the setting sun casting their shadows on the ground. Alex came crashing down first and Jack used the energy from the gloves to slow his descent and soften his fall, Jack rolled out of the landing and jumped on top of Alex before he could stumble back up. Alex landed a couple solid blows to Jacks torso but Jack fought through the pain and landed some of his own. Jack allowed the Mechorgs to really build up some power and with two final blows with an addition of Mechorg energy from the gloves Alex's head bounced off the cement as he faded into unconsciousness. Jack rolled Alex onto his stomach and kicked over a cop car that had been knocked on its side on top of Alex trapping him under it. Jack stood proudly and through the cracked glass of his helmet he was surprised to see the barrels of Police firearms trained at him, an attractive female officer stood out in front of the rest and began yelling her orders with excellent command presence.

Cop- "Put your hands where I can see them and slowly walk towards me."

Jack- "O are you freaking kidding me I'm the good guy here."

Cop- "O yeah well good guys don't wear masks so we can't ID them, take that shit off."

Jack reached for the back of the collar to push the button that would retract his helmet when he stopped and thought about what Robert had told him, how he was a hero at heart. With these things he had been blessed with he could really do some good for this city as dorkey as it sounded he wanted to fight crime and make the bad guys piss their pants at the very sight of him. Jack placed his hands back on his head.

Cop- "Were waiting."

Jack- "I'm sorry Officer I can't do that, you see I'm thinking of making this crime fighting thing a full time gig and if everyone knew what I looked like that would be problematic."

Cop- "You want to fight crime become a cop, now get on the ground now."

Jack- "Already tried that this suits me a little better."

The cop lowered her gun and cleared her throat.

Cop- "Look man you saved our asses so I owe you this, get out of here before I change my mind, but don't ever do this kind of shit again you can really get hurt, what do I call you hero?

Jack- "Hmm Hero works just fine." O and by the way his condition will wear off in twenty four hours than after that he won't be able to hurt anyone."

Jack directed the power from the Mechorgs to his feet again and jumped into the air out of view of the stunned but grateful cops.

MEANWHILE…..

A team of soldiers walked slowly through the forest searching for something in particular, one soldier stopped and called to his superior.

Soldier-"Lieutenant, I think I found it."

The Lieutenant stepped out of the group of soldiers and examined a busted silver hand cart with the door lock broken open; the lieutenant reached into the cart and pulled out a vile of the accelerant inside. The lieutenant pulled his radio out of his holster and hailed General Caldwell.

Lieutenant- "General Sir, we tailed Alex to Menstrength but the local cops got to him before we did. However we found what he was looking for, some random wacko in a costume subdued Alex for the cops and threw this container into the forest but we located it."

General- "Please tell me you got pictures of this random wacko lieutenant."

Lieutenant- "Yes sir we did."

General- "Excellent, bring those back along with the accelerant containers, I have a pretty good idea who this wacko is."

Episode 6

"SAVE THE RIGHT ONE"

Several months had gone by since the Alex Menstrength incident and already Jack had made quite a name for himself, he examined his scrap book of newspaper clippings talking about this strange man who they called "Hero" helping fight crime amongst the city. HERO SAVES COPS FROM MAD MAN, HERO SAVES WOMAN FROM OVERTURNED CAR, HERO THWARTS ROBBERY; HERO HELPS CLEANS THE STREETS OF DRUGS… All these and more where just some of the accomplishments Jack had obtained while wearing the HERO suit and taking his daily IAS9 to give him his strength and speed. Jack slipped the scrap book under his bed and laid down for a much deserved nap Jack never took into account the fact that crime never sleeps and to keep up lately, he wasn't either. Jack stretched out and stared at the full size poster of Hero taped to his bedroom ceiling and closed his eyes, just as he was about to drift off the sleep the door bell rang.

Jack-"Aw, Dillon get the door." The bell rang again.

Jack-'Dillon get the god damn door."

Still no response from Dillon and another ring sent Jack into a fury as he jumped out of bed and stomped down the hall to Dillon's room. Jack peered inside and saw Dillon curled up in a blanket asleep on his bed, Jack kicked Dillon in the back and began shouting.

Jack- "Asshole cant you hear the bell I'm exhausted I need to sleep."

Dillon-"Screw you; I've been working seven days straight, twelve hours a day. You barley work anymore always coming home early staying out all night you get the door dick."

Jack growled and flipped Dillon's mattress over with Dillon still on it and ran to the door, he opened it and sitting outside on the bench was an impatient Dr. Michael Clyde.

Dr. Clyde- "You missed work again today Jack."

Jack- "Well Doc if you watched the new you can see I've been busy if you want to fire me be my guest."

Michael- "I'm not going to fire you Jack, you and I both know you need this job as a cover."

Jack- "I'll get a part time Job at Burger King, Michael I can't handle all of this even with the IAS9 I'm just too tired. I'm tired of all the testing and the body scans and putting my ass on the line every damn day"

Michael- "No one said this was going to be easy Jack but I believe in you and Robert did too, you took this responsibility upon yourself and you can stop at anytime but is that what you want?"

Jack- "you know I don't'."

Michael- "Good, than get dressed and come to work you need to keep up this act in case the police or military come looking for the Hero, this is your cover and I can only forge your time sheets to a certain degree as an alibi. You actually have to show up every now and then so questions aren't asked, plus you have to start the training for the new guards there are only two left from the old team and they've been working way to much overtime."

Jack sighed and went inside to put on his uniform; he walked back out and was surprised to see Michael holding the door open to a limousine. Jack let out a weak smile and jumped inside, the Limo started towards Menstrength Pharmaceuticals.

Michael-"Have you been keeping up with your IAS9 intake?"

Jack- "Two every day at 8A.M."

Michael- "Good, any side effects or weakness? We need to get you in for another scan soon"

Jack- "Nope everything's good you don't have to worry Doc I'm not going to turn out like Alex."

Michael- "That's not what I'm worried about Jack, you need to realize that eventually your body will become used to the IAS9 and at that point we need to up your dosage to IAS10 and that could bring on a whole new list of problems."

Jack- "I've been fine so far we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Hero's doing a good thing for this city and I'm not going to stop just because there's obvious danger involved plus people love me."

Michael- "The Cops don't, you've been stepping on their toes since day one and their afraid one day you're going to really mess things up for them."

Jack- "I don't know what the big deal is, why haven't I proven myself to them yet? I've done nothing but help."

Michael- "They see a man as powerful as yourself and they can't help but think of how dangerous of a threat you could be. Here's an idea, let the cops do their work, let them handle the petty problems with the drunks, robbers and drug dealers and if for any reason it gets out of hand you can intervene, stick to the problems the Police can't handle on their own."

Jack- "I guess I can let the boys in blue take on a little more but I decide what's over their heads ok?"

Michael- "You know when Robert left me with the controlling stake of Menstrength he left me in charge and although I believe in what you're doing here Jack I can't let you go out and risk your life over every little problem you think is too big for the Police. So I apologize but I'm going to have to pull rank here and say that I make the decisions of who and what you respond to, your still my employee and if you use my tech or drugs to become some renegade vigilante I will terminate you. Do I make myself clear?"

Jack starred angrily at the doctor but reluctantly agreed, still he didn't like having no control of who he can help but Michael did have the means to allow him to help at all. The car pulled through the gates of Menstrength Inc and Doctor Clyde and Jack stepped out of the Limo.

Michael- "Despite what you might think about me Jack I am your friend and I have your best interest in mind, I've actually got a little surprise for you follow me."

Jack began followed Michael into Roberts's office which was now the doctors but they were cut off by the attractive Officer from the Alex Menstrength incident. The female Officer shook hands with Michael before speaking.

Female Officer-"Dr. Clyde I was wondering if I could get some more information from you about Alexander Menstrength and his association here with Menstrength incorporated?"

Michael- "Absolutely Officer it would be my pleasure for my security director here and myself to sit down and discuss this further but unfortunately I'm incredibly busy, speak to my secretary and well get something in the books."

Michael continued moving towards his office to avoid further questions and Jack and the female Officer exchange glances as the two men stepped into Michaels office and together took the elevator to the sub lab, the doctor stopped in the middle of the Lab and pointed to an empty cage.

Michael- "Do you see it?"

Jack walked closer to the cage and examined the inside closely.

Jack- "I don't see anything what are….."

Before Jack finished his sentence a squeal came from the cage and Jack jumped back.

Jack- "What the hell is that?"

Michael smiled and took a remote in his hand off the desk and pressed a button, in moments a pig emerged inside the cage wearing the silver Mechorgs, collar and a makeshift helmet that appeared to be made out of a solid form of the mechanical bugs.

Jack-"Holy shit its super pig; please tell me he's my side kick."

Michael- "Actually it's a she and her name is Peggy but that's not what you should have taken away from this demonstration. I found out that the Mechorgs can bend light and mimic their surroundings, in short they make the host invisible but only for a short amount of time before they need to vent their energy."

Jack- "Doc are you saying I can become invisible now?"

Michael- "In essence yes, but the Mechorgs cannot adjust to rapid changes in backgrounds so for instance rapid strobe lights or extreme color shifts will throw the suit off and you'll still be mimicking your old environment."

Jack- "Ok so avoid rapidly moving objects like cars and subways than?"

Michael- "Precisely but in a normal setting with stationary objects this should prove as an excellent stealth weapon. I've also made a slow purging vent in the collar to safely and quietly expel the Mechorgs energy while in stealth mode but this can be only used for a short amount of time before you must fully vent the energy .O I also have one more little addition I almost forgot to mention, you may want to step back."

Jack took a few steps back but noticed the doctor had stepped back even further, Jack stood next to Michael as he pressed another button on the remote and the Mechorgs around Peggy the pig screeched and expelled a massive hazy wave of energy that blew the cage and surrounding tables to pieces. Peggy saw her chance for freedom and ran for the exit but Michael reached into his pocket and pressed the button down on a clicking pen that sent a signal to the Mechorgs to halt. The Mechorgs became rigid and solid like the ones on the helmet and Peggy was stuck like a statue. Michael went next to her and hit the button on the collar to make the Mechorgs retreat back into the collar. Michael picked up the pig and strained as he put her on the table inside of another cage, he pet her head gave her some treats to sooth her till she was calm again.

Jack- "Is she ok?"

Michael- "Fine just a little shaken up that's a lot of energy she just produced right now, the Mechorgs natural instinct is to vent their own energy they just never had the means to do it. I made a new batch that in extreme circumstances will vent all of its pent up energy in one massive wave, of course you should try and avoid this if necessary since in a closed environment this energy could maim and kill a lot of innocent peoplethat's why venting through your gloves and boots is so important, you would hate for this amount of force to be dispersed."

Jack looked around at the destruction that wave of energy had created and whole heartedly agreed with the doctor.

Jack- "And the device inside that pen of yours, that can paralyze the Mechorgs huh? What's stopping you from trapping me in that shit?

Michael- "Because I trust you Jack, and you're not a pig. You need to trust me if we're going to make this work, you need to….."

Jacks attention was drawn to the yells of Police Officers through the high tech police scanner Michael had rigged up inside the Lab, The frantic cries of civilians could be heard over the Officers open microphones screaming for help. Jack stepped closer and stared at the speaker while the cops frantically begged their dispatcher for the fire department and more units, apparently there was a huge out of control fire that resulted from chemicals igniting in an apartment complex. Jack whirled around and met the doctor's concerned eyes.

Jack-"Is this big enough or should I just wait and let them all burn?"

Michael- "You need to go it sounds pretty bad, but be careful the HERO suit is not fire proof and the Mechorgs will burn off you if exposed to high heat."

Jack nodded that he understood and grabbed the collar and the boots and gloves and ran out the door into the elevator. Once Jack was outside the gate he changed into a plain T shirt and black tactical cargo pants and jumped in his truck. Jack was almost to the scene of the fire when his route was cut off and redirected by a traffic cop, he was still two blocks away but he had to do the rest on foot. Jack parked his old yellow pickup in an alleyway and looked around for cameras or people, when he was sure he was clear he took off his boots and put on the Hero suit boots with the vent caps on the soles than the gloves and collar and engaged the Mechorgs. The slimy mechanical bugs covered his body then stiffened into his armor as they bonded to each other, he pushed the sliding switch on the back of the collar to produce his helmet and once he was in full form jumped out of his truck. Jack once again searched the alley for anyone watching than jumped over a fence to get to a fire escape ladder. He quickly crawled up the ladder and used the platforms of the fire escapes to make his way to the roof, once on the roof he took a deep breath and readied himself for some roof jumping. Jack ran full speed to the edge of one roof than kicked the sensor on the inside heal of his left boot with his right foot to expel the Mechorg energy through the vent cap on the underside of his left boot. Jack flew through the air and flailed his arms instinctively trying to balance himself as he fell towards another roof. The new Mechorgs produced energy more quickly and in four seconds the Hero suit was powered up for an expulsion of energy. Jack used his knuckle vents to slow his decent to the roof of another building. Jack rolled out of his fall and checked behind him, he had covered a lot of ground and jumped over roughly five buildings but as Jack watched the smoke billow into the sky from the apartments he realized he had another block to go. Jack finally landed on the roof of the building closest to the apartment complex; all he had to do now was jump from this roof to the apartment and do what he could. But he looked down about five stories to the fire department beneath him and realized he wouldn't even know where to start looking for survivors, he would need to speak to the police and fire fighters on scene to see which floors haven't been searched yet. Jack hopped off the roof of the adjacent building and landed in the middle of the relief team caring for the people that were pulled from the building. The firefighters stood in awe and the Cops pulled their weapons and aimed at the vigilante, Jack noticed a familiar face amongst the cops the same woman that had let him go the day Jack had taken down Alex at Menstrength Inc, and the same woman who he met earlier at Menstrength. The female officer once again stepped out of the crowd and yelled at Jack.

Officer- "I told you last time to stop with this hero shit, you're going to get yourself killed or worse other people."

Jack- "I think you're just jealous. What's your name Officer?" Jack said as he walked towards her

Officer- "Jealous my ass you're just a nut job in a costume, my name is Sergeant Darlene Rose and I'm ordering you to put your hands on your head and drop to your knees right now!"

Jack ignored her demands but thought it safe to stop walking towards her; he put up his hands in a non threatening gesture and continued talking to the sergeant.

Jack- "Darlene, that's a pretty name, ok Sergeant I can help you just need to tell me where there are still people trapped at."

Darlene- "I'm not going to tell you anything we've got this under control, now drop to your knees."

Jack heard through his heightened hearing radio chatter from the fire crew warning of survivors still on the fourth floor; however they couldn't get to them because the fire was spreading too violently. Jack turned and began walking toward the burning apartment complex but Darlene wasn't done with him yet.

Darlene- "I said stop!"

Jack- "I'm here to help Sergeant if you want to stop me you're going to have to shoot me."

Darlene- "I'm warning you."

Jack ignored her and kept walking towards the apartment when a shot rang out and a bullet clipped Jack in the back of the leg. Jack stumbled forward a bit and massaged his thigh while the Mechorgs pushed out the bullet. Jack turned around and saw the barrel of the sergeant's gun smoking.

Darlene- "I warned you."

Jack- "You're lucky you're cute." Jack said as he directed the Mechorg energy to his boots and jumped up to the fire escape of the fourth floor while Darlene cursed under her breath.

This floor had taken the worst of the damage and the fire escape Jack landed on began to creak loudly as it became unattached from the wall. Jack used his powerful legs to jump to the closest window ledge just as the fire escape snapped loose and fell four stories to the ground. Jack peered down from his perch on the window sill and prayed the people on the ground would see it coming, thankfully they did and everyone scattered out of the way before the metal beams came crashing to the floor.

Jack- "The sarge is going to grill my ass for that one." Jack said as he kicked in the window of the apartment.

As soon as he kicked it in a whoosh of air came flooding into the apartment and the fresh oxygen fueled a huge fireball that knocked Jack off the window sill. Jack dangled from the window sill and struggled to pull himself up; he finally succeeded and dropped onto the floor of the apartment. The fire was spreading fast and Jack stayed low under the smoke looking for survivors, he grabbed the doorknob of the apartment door leading into the hallway and jerked his hand back in pain. Jack decided opening this door would be suicide seeing as on the other side there was probably an inferno. Jack looked up at the weakened roof of the apartment and clicked his heels together engaging both vent caps of his boots sending Jack through the roof. Jack landed gracefully on the roof and searched for another way into the fourth story hallway, while the roof started to splinter under Jacks feet Jack noticed a door that lead from the roof to fourth story below. Jack darted for the door as the roof caved in beneath him and Jack slammed through the door to the stairway just in time. Jack followed the stairs through the smoke to the hallway and made his way apartment to apartment listening intently for any cries for help. As he waded through the flames losing more Mechorgs from the heat he found a man kneeling besides a fallen beam from the ceiling trying desperately to lift it, Jack crept closer and saw that a woman was buried underneath the beam and debris unconscious.

Jack- "Sir, we need to get out of here this whole floors about to collapse."

Jack watched the man struggle to lift the heavy beam but the wife was barely breathing and there was no telling if she could be saved even after he got her unstuck and safely out, still Jack had to try but first he had to get the man out of there. Jack crept closer to the man and helped him to his feet.

Jack- "What's your name sir?"

Man- "Carl….. Carl Bradley, my wife you need to help her."

Jack- "Ok Mr. Bradley I'm going to try my best to help your wife but I need you to go for the stairs and get out of here."

Carl- "No, I won't leave my wife I'm going to stay and help."

Jack- "Sir I can take the heat and the smoke you can't you're going to die if you don't get out of here now move!" Jack ordered as he pointed to the stairs.

Carl- "Fuck you I'm not leaving my wife, don't worry about me save her."

Jack had no other option but to physically get the hysterical man out of the building before he just sat there and burned to death. Jack wrapped his arm through Carl's arm and around his neck and pulled him towards the nearest apartment door, Jack kicked the door in and the fire whooshed into the apartment. Jack cowered over the man's body covering him from the flames and piece of flaming debris fell from the ceiling, seared through the Mechorgs and sliced through the exposed skin on Jacks back. Jack felt the injury but pushed through the pain he looked down at Carl and saw that the blood from his cut had splattered on his face but otherwise Carl was ok. Jack continued pulling the uncooperative man towards the window of the apartment and found that even with his strength this man was becoming increasingly hard to overcome as Carl reached for his wife.

Carl- "No god damn it don't worry about me, don't leave her you fucking monster."

Jack pulled Carl till he was eye level with him

Jack- "Carl, I promise you I will come back for her I swear to you."

Carl- "You promise?"

Jack- "I promise now stop fighting we have to get out of here."

Carl nodded and Jack kicked open the window fueling more flames, he grabbed Carl and jumped down off the window sill, he used the Mechorg energy to slow his fall and landed safely with the hysterical man in his arms. Jack handed Carl over to the Medics and was about to jump back up to the fourth floor when the building exploded into flames and the fourth floor came crumbling down on top of the floors beneath it.

Carl- "NO, JUSTINE, SHE'S STILL IN THERE YOU CAN STILL SAVE HERE GO NOW!"

Jack looked at the man in tears reaching out to the burning building as the medics struggled to keep him on the gurney, one medic injected Carl with a sedative and as the effects of the drug kicked in the medics began to try and get some basic information out of him.

Medic- "Sir what's your name?"

Carl- "Dr…Carl ….. Bradley"

Medic- "Ok Dr. Bradley are you allergic to any medication that I should be aware of?"

Carl pointed to Jack still stunned watching the building collapse on itself; Carl broke Jacks concentration as he growled.

Carl- "You…. I said save her, save HER. She was my life my everything and you let her die, you promised you'd go back for here you swore. You're no hero, I'm going to find you and I'm going to show you the same kind of heroics you bastard"

Jack stood motionless as Carl was placed into the ambulance and driven away. Jack sat on the trunk of a nearby police cruiser and held his helmeted head in his hands as beneath his mask tears began to fall from his eyes, in his distraught state he didn't even notice Sergeant Darlene Rose creep up beside him and speak in a low calming voice.

Darlene- "I can see your new at this and trust me when I tell you, you can't save them all."

Jack- "I could have done better; I could have pulled her out from under that beam and taken them down at the same time I just had to try harder."

Darlene- "You did the best you could do, you saved the one most likely to survive I would have done the same thing."

Jack stayed quiet and was still in such a dazed state that he didn't notice two Officers step behind him and attempt to put cuffs on his quivering hands lying behind him on the trunk. Jack Jumped up from the surprise attack and without thinking threw one of the Officers over his shoulder onto the windshield of the cruiser crushing the window with the impact. The other Officers saw this attack and ran to take Jack down.

Jack-"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Jack yelled at the approaching Officers

Jack vented energy at the ground by the feet of the oncoming Officers and the force knocked them back and exploded the concrete. Jack sensed one more oncoming attacker and spun around with his fist presented to blow him back when he met the terrified face of Darlene cringing waiting for the strike. Jack placed his arms at his side, vented through his boots and jumped away out of sight. Jack went back to the alley where his truck was parked and was half surprised to see that it had been towed, he grunted and propelled himself in the direction of Dillon's house. Once there he checked for anyone watching and retracted the Mechorgs, he placed the collar and gloves into the pockets of his cargo pants and walked into the house thankful that Dillon wasn't home to give him any attitude. Jack walked into his room and sat on his bed, he stared blankly at the wall as he drifted into deep thought. Maybe he wasn't cut out for this hero thing he wasn't at it very long and already he was making huge mistakes. Letting people die and attacking cops what if he was in way over his head, what if he was in the beginning stages of mind melting he hadn't been in for a scan in awhile. Jack lay back on his bed and gritted his teeth as the poster of Hero stared back at him, the anger flooded through Jack and he jumped up and ripped the poster from the ceiling than grabbed his scrap book and ripped the pages out of it. Once Jack had settled down he went to his computer and typed in the internet search box DOCTOR CARL BRADLEY and the information popped up. Doctor Bradley was a microbiologist after serving his time in the army on the bomb disposal unit. When he returned home he was teaching at a prestigious college for many years until recently he had been fired for his conspiracy theories. Jack read that Bradley had attempted to prove to the class that the government had been creating bio weapons and experimenting on the general public as a way to test ways to destabilize the population and kill off millions through Biological warfare. Dr. Bradley had brought a vile of what he said was a sample of the weaponized virus that he cloned from the military. As Jack went on reading about the unstable doctor he began to feel a little bit better until he fell upon pictures with him and his wife and son, he read the caption under the picture. It said that Doctor Bradley's son had died in a car accident and this loss sent Carl into a mentally disturbed delusional state that he was sentenced to psychiatric care for after the incident with the Bio weapon he brought to class. After being declared sane Bradley's wife let him stay with her in her apartment while he got back on his feet. Jack felt pity for this poor man and the hardships he was going through, he felt personally responsible for the next set of challenges he would have to face with the loss of his wife. Jack turned off his computer and took off his singed clothes that were melted to his skin from the heat; Jack took a moment to watch his burns heal than jumped into bed. Thoughts kept mulling around in his head, was this worth it? Am I cut out for this? These thoughts kept an exhausted Jack up for a moment until his eyes finally grew heavy and closed.

Jack- " Not worth it" Jack murmered

Dr. Carl Bradley swatted away a medics hand as he tried to place an IV line as the ambulance drove to the nearby hospital. The adrenaline from earlier was counteracting the sedative in his body and Carl fought to stay lucid as the agitated medic tried to take his vitals.

Medic- "Look man you need to stay still or I'll shoot you up with tranqs again."

Carl- "Fuck you; you're not taking me back…. You're not."

Medic Driver- "Taking him back where, what's this guy talking about."

Medic- "Sir, where do you think we're taking you?"

Carl stared intensely at the ceiling of the ambulance and kept quiet. In his deranged, paranoid state he believed that the Medics would turn him over to the doctors who would then turn him over to the Psych ward from the mental stress of his wife's death. Carl sat still for a moment as the Medic jumped to the front of the van to talk to the driver, Carl looked to the left and saw his reflection in the chrome stripping of the ambulance and noticed blood on his face. Carl moved his head around and examined his reflection and realized he hadn't sustained any injuries to his face, therefore this wasn't his blood. Carl checked to see if the Medic was watching than grabbed the plastic tip cover for a syringe, he scoop a drop of blood off his cheek than grabbed a pair of syringes nearby. He placed one syringe back into the tip cap with the blood and hid the other one under his body as the Medic returned to his seat in the back to check on his patient.

Medic- "Feeling better Mr. Bradley?"

Carl- "NO." Carl said as he whirled around with the syringe and stabbed the medic in the neck.

The medic screamed and gurgled blood from his throat as the driver looked back to see what was going on with his partner. Carl jumped out of the gurney and put the syringe to the temple of the driver.

Carl-"If you want to live pull this shit over RIGHT NOW!"

The driver gulped down his fear and slowly pulled the van to the side of the road; Carl grabbed one of the AED paddles charged the machine to full and shocked the medic to unconsciousness. Carl jumped out of the van and pulled out the other syringe with the foreign blood inside the cap; he pulled the needles hammer up to suck the blood from the cap into the tube of the syringe and took a moment to stare at the specimen inside.

Carl- "So the God does bleed."

Jack was awoken by a presence in his room, it was pitch dark but Jack could tell he was not alone. He kept his eyes closed and used his super human hearing to detect the sound from the intruder and once he got close enough jack jumped out of bed and took the unknown man into the wall with his arm tightly pushed against his neck. The light turned on and Jack could see the panicked face of David Trend staring back at him.

Jack-"What the hell, what are you doing here?"

David coughed and attempted to answer but another voice behind Jack answered for him

Michael Clyde- "I sent him to get you Jack"

Jack whirled around and angrily stared at his boss who had broken in to his room.

Jack- "Little early for a visit boss, you can leave now I'm sure you know where the door is."

David Trend quickly wrapped Jacks arm behind his back and slammed his face down in his bed, Jack fought to get out of the hold but David had gotten much stronger and had him tied up at just the right angle.

David- "Your fast but I'm experienced."

Jack-"And stronger." David said as he looked up at Michael.

Jack- "IAS9?" Jack motioned his head to David behind him

Michael- "Just a small dose with little exposure to accelerant, we didn't know how cooperative you'd be after your little run in with the law."

Jack final broke the arm lock and pushed David off him; David stumbled backwards but stopped and squared up in a fighting stance.

Michael- "Stand down David let's give him a chance to explain himself, explain Jack I'm all ears."

Jack- "I lost it, it was a moment of weakness the cops were all over me and I just lost one of the people in that building I wasn't thinking straight."

Michael grabbed the remote control from Jacks bedside table and turned on the TV. Jacked watch the news reporters talk about the night's events.

Reporter- "Police are reporting that after making matters worse at a fire in an apartment earlier, Hero began an unprovoked attack on the Officers on scene….."

Jack-"That's a lie, I saved a man from that fire that the fire fighters couldn't, and the cops tried to surround me I already told you lashing out at them was a huge mistake on my part but…."

Michael- "But nothing Jack this is over, hand over all the components to the Hero suit and your entire supply of IAS9 or Mr. Trend here will take it from you."

Jack- "You know what, take it, take all this shit this super hero act is clearly not for me I don't want this responsibility anymore, it's all yours." Jack said as he threw the collar, boots and gloves at David than went to his medicine cabinet and grabbed the hidden bottle of IAS9 pills.

Michael- "You showed such promise Jack I really wish things could have worked out better as a sign of our friendship I'm going to leave here and not get the cops involved but be warned if you mention anything about IAS9 or show your face on Menstrength property you will be arrested."

Jack- "Trust me I want nothing to do with any of this anymore."

Michael nodded and directed David to follow him out the door Jack slammed his bedroom door behind them and jumped back into bed. A couple hours later his wrist watch began too beep signaling Jack to take his dose of IAS9, Jack instinctively went to his medicine cabinet but then remembered he had been cut off. Then he went to his closet and pulled out his uniform but remembered he had no job, he sat on his bed with his head in his hands.

Jack- "Now what?"

Dr. Carl Bradley stepped into the lobby of a busy downtown building; he was dressed as a courier and wore a back pack, Carl walked up to the receptionist

Carl- "I've got a delivery for the top floor Mr. Averies office."

Receptionist-"Ok let me check , just one second."

The receptionist picked up the phone and dialed the extension and after a brief conversation hung up.

Receptionist- "Yes Mr. Averies been expecting a delivery please sign in and take the elevator to your left to the 14th floor."

Carl thanked her and walked into the elevator; he punched in the 14th floor button and rode it up to his destination as the Girl from Ipenima played casually over the speakers.

MEANWHILE….

A patrol officer noticed a man in his boxers and T-Shirt laying in an alley way, the Officer crept cautiously closer and called out to the man.

Officer- Hey, Buddy you ok?

The Officer rolled the man over and saw that his head was bleeding from a contusion; the cop looked to the left and saw a bloody brick on the floor. The cop pulled out the man's wallet and ID and broadcasted his emergency traffic.

Officer- "Yeah dispatch we've got a DB here in the alleyway on 4th and Kingsley St we need a coroner and a medical examiner asap, checked his ID says his names Marcus Kent and he's got a Speedy way courier service work badge. His itinerary says he's supposed to make a delivery to Daniel Averies on the 14th floor of the law firm building on Main Street.

Carl Bradley had just now exited the elevator and asked for directions to Daniel Averies office once inside Averies office Carl shut and locked the door behind him, he attempted to get Averies attention but Daniel rudely pointed out that he was on the phone. Carl pulled a sawed off shotgun out of his bag and now Carl had Daniels complete attention.

Daniel Averies- "Bob, I'm going to have to call you back…. What do you want from me huh?

Carl- "Daniel Averies? Son to Dr. Christopher Averies?"

Daniel- "Yes, whatever my father did to you I swear I can help, we can make you better and if you want money I've got plenty of that just please don't kill me."

Carl- "Your dad had me declared mentally insane Daniel, one of the first steps to ruining my life."

Daniel- "I'm so sorry, please put the gun down we can fix…."

Carl- "You know Daniel it really is a wrong place at the wrong time sort of thing. See you're the son of a lying doctor who just so happens to have a corner office on the top floor of a busy building you see what I'm getting at here Daniel?"

Daniel- "I have no idea what…."

Daniels sentence was cut off by Carl opening the rest of his back pack exposing two metal cylinders with wires connecting to the top of a key pad.

Carl-"See Mr. Averies your office is perfect for dispersing these little guys, a Bio Weapon of biblical proportions. Unfortunately I didn't have time to come up with a name for it lets just call it the….Averies Virus you should be so proud Daniel."

Daniel- "What the fuck do you want from me?"

Carl typed in a code on the metal container and the aerosol gas erupted from the top, as Daniel began to choke and cough up blood Carl continued his speech.

Carl- Today I'm testing the dispersal range of the Averies Virus and from this height the gas should spread as far as a five mile radius."

Carl pushed Daniels body out of his chair and used it to break open all the windows in his office. Carl sat in his chair and watched the gas spread out the windows and float through the air as he rested his feet on top of Daniels body and continued his conversation.

Carl- "How did I survive this you ask? Well I made an anti virus and so far it's holding up great."

TWO HOURS LATER…..

Jack was busy patching up the holes in his wall that he had punched out of rage with spackle when Dillon yelled at him from the other room.

Dillon- "Hey Jack come take a look at this."

Jack walked into the room and listened to the news report.

Reporter- "Unfortunately we cannot get any closer coverage than this because the virus has spread to about a six mile area, but as you can see blocks of the downtown district are blocked off. Two hours ago a man by the name of Doctor Carl Bradley set off an explosion of a virus on the 14th story of a nearby building, this virus causes seizures and brain trauma within minutes. The responding officers are now down and unconscious and the Police department is at a stalemate as to what to now do to take down this mad man who for some reason is unaffected by this virus. Earlier today the police released to the press a recorded conversation of the terrorist's demands."

Jack watched as the words projected on screen as the recorded conversation was played live.

Recorded 911 Operator- 911 what is your emergency?

Recorded Carl- "I've dispersed a Virus at 135 w Main Street on the 14th floor of the building, I would not advise police intervention seeing as I have set explosives on the stairwells and elevators. Thousands will die unless my one and only demand is met… I want the Hero here now!"

Jacks blood ran cold as he continued to watch the live footage and listen to the Reporter.

Reporter- "After Hero's surprise actions from last night it's impossible to tell if he will actually show but the city is hoping and praying that he does."

Jack grabbed his jacket and truck keys and ran out the door before Dillon even noticed he was gone. Carl Bradley was enjoying himself as he walked sprightly amongst the dead bodies of the 14th story tenants. He checked the Claymore mines he had strategically set all along the stairwell and elevator shafts than walked back to Daniels office and opened another container of the virus gas. Carl walked to the edge of the office and peered over the edge and as the gas enveloped him and soiled the outside air Carl unzipped his pants and urinated out the side of the broken windows onto the sick civilians and Officers writhing on the floor below. As he finished and zipped up his pants he heard familiar swoosh and thud and then another and another each sound getting louder as it drew closer until Hero crashed through the floor and landed inside Daniels Office. Carl clapped his hands and mocked him

Carl- "Always a big entrance with you huh Hero?"

Hero stepped closer but stopped as Carl presented his thumb on a dead man's switch to more explosives in his bag.

Carl-"One more step hot shot and the explosion will carry this Virus a lot further than a couple miles, now at this point you should be feeling a slight headache coming on."

He was right Hero's head was overcome by a shooting pain as he dropped to his knees and held his helmet and shook his head in agony.

Hero- "No….Impossible….I can't….."

Carl-"Can't what? Get sick? O Mr. Hero you're naïve to think I wasn't expecting you to come barging in here guns blazing. I took a good look at your blood, you know the one that splattered on my face the day you let my wife die. Your cells repair themselves at twice the normal human rate of speed, and your immune system… I mean wow, what a work of art. But this particular virus I tailored specifically for you, not even your super human immunity can counteract it what do you think of that Hero or should I call you Jack Canner?"

Carl leapt forward and knocked Hero to the floor with a kick to the chest and continued kicking him in the ribs on the floor as he continued.

Carl- "Never leave DNA around if you don't want people like the government to keep a record of you and especially don't let it get into the hands of ME!"

Carl stopped kicking as Hero gasped for air than reached around and hit the switch to retract his helmet into the collar; he threw up blood and began to crawl for the open window.

Carl-"You know I've told people, these stupid non believers about the military making Biological weapons and testing it on civilians but nobody believed me, but you, you're the greatest Bio weapon the world has ever seen, and now look at you."

Carl stomped forward and kicked Hero over so he could watch his eyes go lifeless from the virus but shuddered in anger as he saw not the face of Jack Canner but the unfamiliar face of David Trend foaming at the mouth still struggling to hold onto life. Carl grabbed David by the collar and punched him repeatedly in the face.

Carl- "YOU'RE NOT CANNER, WHERE'S CANNER?"

David's head fell limply to the side as he lost consciousness and Carl lost his head and shot David in the head with his sawed off shotgun. Carl plopped down in his seat thought for a moment than angrily grabbed the bag of explosives and threw it at the nearest building detonating it in mid air. While the glass and rubble from the neighboring building fell to the floor Carl picked up his phone and dialed.

Dispatcher- 911 what's your emergency?

Carl- "You think you can play games with me? Sending me this imposter well congratulations I'm sure about a hundred or so people at the building next door really appreciated that."

Carl hung up the phone and listened to a helicopter buzz over head and Carl knew that the department was sending in their SWAT team on the roof. Carl sat patiently in the seat and waited for the inevitable explosions from the stairwell leading to the roof explode from the trip wire the SWAT team hit.

Jack arrived at Menstrength Pharmaceuticals and jumped the gate as the guard came out to stop him. He ran into the lobby and decided against taking the elevator and made his way to the lobby. Jack continued up the stairs but his lungs began to burn from his asthma setting in again from the lack of IAS9 in his system. His breathing became shallower as he sunk against a wall on the 3rd floor and tried to catch his breath while the sound of his rapidly beating heart pounded in his ears. Security came up the stairs and drew their weapons on the out of breath Jack when Michael's voice rang over the radios ordering the men to cuff him and bring him to his office. Once in his office Michael gave Jack a inhaler to calm his asthma attack, when Jack was able to breathe normally again he conversed with Michael.

Jack-"Michael, I can help please let me help. He wants me he can have me I don't want to see anyone else get hurt."

Before Michael could talk Jack overheard the news reports advising that Hero had just arrived on scene and Jack looked at the TV as the over head helicopter tapped the building zooming into the windows of the 14th floor. Through the smoke movement could be seen and a shadow immerged from the window and the body of a man was pushed from the window and fell fourteen stories to the ground below. On his decent the news camera got a shot of the man as he fell and the world stood still as they watched the body of Hero plummet to the floor. Jack whirled around confused and stunned and went crazy on Michael.

Jack- "Who the fuck was that? A replacement man you are reckless aren't you preaching about how dangerous this drug is than giving it to any bum on the street who wants to take a shot at being a hero."

Michael- "He was going to hurt more people….I….I had no choice, David said he could handle it….I told him the IAS9 would protect him from the Virus…. O my god what have I done?"

Jack- "David? That was David? He was on IAS9; he had better training than me what the hell happened?

Michael- "He was already gone before my connection at Disease control told me that the virus would still affect a subject with IAS9, I thought I could help I sent them a sample of IAS9 guaranteeing them it would wipe out the virus but the tests came back, this virus was specifically designed to overcome IAS9."

Jack-"Your guy at Disease control did he say anything about a cure?"

Michael- "A small dose of the Virus is enough for the body to build up immunity."

Jack- "Okay well give me that because I'm going in."

Michael- "Jack you don't understand, The IAS9 will see this anti-virus as a threat and attempt to eradicate it."

Jack- "So what you're saying is I take the IAS9 my body won't allow the anti-virus to spread to build immunity? I've got to go at this without IAS9?"

Michael nodded and Jack continued.

Jack-"Well than it's a good thing I've been IAS9 free for about fifteen hours now, I hope you've got another Hero suit ready to go."

Carl Bradley walked through the destruction the bomb had made and found a lone survivor from the SWAT team huddled in the corner with numerous cuts and burns. Carl knelt down beside the wounded SWAT member.

Carl-"Where is Hero?"

SWAT Officer- "I don't know we don't have any contact with him, he shows up whenever he wants."

Carl stood up and shot a round from his shot gun at the wall above the SWAT members head and while the debris from the drywall fell on the Officers head Carl pressed the smoldering hot barrel of his pump action to the SWAT officers cheek. The SWAT member screamed in pain as Carl asked again

Carl-"Where is Hero? Tell me or the next shot goes through your head."

Suddenly a helicopter was over the building again and Jack came crashing through the tattered ceiling tiles.

Jack- "You looking for me dick weed?"

Carl spun around and fired a round at Jack but Jack vented the Mechorg energy and the force shot the pellets right back at Carl. Carl growled and ran into Daniels office as a handful of shotgun pellets to the face tore his flesh. Carl huddled behind the desk and reloaded his shotgun.

Carl-"That you Canner?" Jack stood against the wall and focused on controlling his breathing as his asthma kept reminding him he was completely human again.

Jack- "Yeah… It's me" Jack said in between breaths.

Carl- "Sound a little out of shape there boy, I'd hate to fight you when you're not in your prime."

Jack- "I'm still in good enough shape to kick your ass."

Jack ran through the door into Daniels office but Carl was posted up with his shotgun waiting and fired two rounds into Jacks chest. The Mechorgs squealed as the force of the shells tore a chunk of them of Jacks skin, Jack dove out of the way of another round from Carl than rose to his feet. Carl realized he was out of shells and ran at Jack and used the butt of his gun as a club, he swung through and connected with Jacks helmet cracking the glass, then hit him in the stomach. Jack held his gut and gasped for air while Carl broke the wooden stock of his shotgun over the back of Jacks helmet. Stunned but not out of the race yet Jack attacked with a couple quick jabs but the ex army soldier blocked the punches and round house kicked Jack in the stomach. Jack stumbled back again and focused hard to remember his combat training with David but without the IAS9 unlocking his brains perfect memory and unlimited potential the military trained scientist was becoming too much of a threat. As Jack unsuccessfully blocked another kick to the stomach and groin Jack decided to hell with combat training it was time to improvise. Daniel came with a punch and Jack stepped out of the way, once Carl had stumbled in front Jack directed the energy from his glove vents to the ceiling causing the debris to fall on top of Carl. Carl shook the dry wall and soot from his hair and got back to his feet and Jack used this distraction to run and tackle Carl. The two wrestled for a moment and a bit of Jacks combat training immerged to the surface when he wrist locked Carl and kicked out his knees. Carl struggled to break free and push through the pain while Jack retracted his helmet and begged him to stop.

Jack-"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY I COULDN'T SAVE HER PLEASE DR. BRADLEY YOU NEED TO STOP!"

Carl- "Your apologies aren't going to bring my wife back you should have tried harder your NOTHING, NOTHING BUT A WEAK LITTLE MAN WHO ON A GOOD DAY, WITH THE RIGHT DRUG, THINKS HE CAN PUT ON A COSTUME AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE YOU'RE A PATHETIC FUCKING JOKE."

With that Carl wiggled free of the wrist lock and slugged Jack in his exposed face. Jack's right brow busted open and his blood dribbled down his face into his eye. Carl continued his brutal attack and pushed Jack over an arm chair making Jack loose balance and topple to the floor. Jack got to his knees and went for the button on the back of the collar to bring out his helmet but Carl was over him in a flash and gave Jack a harsh kick to the face. The force of the kick made Jacks blood splatter the nearby arm chair and Jack went down again lying motionless on the floor. Jacks ear drums had popped from the force of the blow and the only thing he could hear was his erratic heartbeat and the muffled speech of Carl Bradley as he towered over him with a knife ready for the kill strike.

Carl-"Some Hero you turned out to be."

Carl said as he swung down for Jacks neck. Before he made the stab Jack flipped the switch to produce the molded Mechorg helmet and the blade bounced off. Carl raised his arm for another strike but looked down surprised to see that Jacks body had mysteriously vanished from the spot it sat at just moments ago. Jack had initialized the Hero suits invisibility mode and he stood in the corner of the officer trying to catch his breath while Carl searched the room.

Carl- "I can here you breathing Hero, you can't hide all day I'm going to find you and when I do I'll gut you like a fish."

Carl crept along the room straining his eyes through the smoke of the expelled virus as he slashed wildly with his knife cutting nothing but thin air. Jack heard the faint hissing of the Mechorg energy being expelled slowly through the collar, the slow venting cap wasn't enough to fulfill the needs of the rapidly vibrating Mechorgs however and they began to shake and squeeze Jacks body. Jack decided to make his move before the pressure of the suit forced him to turn off his cloaking device, he waded through the smoke and debris to sneak up on Carl to finally subdue the out of control doctor. Carl continued frantically searching for Jack until he noticed a silhouette of a man through the smoke creeping up on him from the corner of the room. Carl swung with his blade at the approaching outline of Jacks cloaked body and the knives tip barely pierced through the Hero suit. The Mechorgs squelched from the wound and the cloaking feature disengaged showing Jacks hand over Carl's wrist struggling to pull the knife from his chest. Jack finally pushed the mad doctor off of him with an energy kick from his boot and the force made Carl rip the knife out of the Hero suit and topple backwards until he fell out the shattered window. Jack rushed to the edge and saw Carl bruised and bleeding grasping the outside of the shattered window on the story below them. Carl's was caught on a sharp shard of glass jutting through his hand helping him hold on. Jack reached out to the doctor as Carl's hand began to slide off the glass piece.

Jack-"Take my hand!"

Carl- "What and give you another reason to justify letting my wife die, one life doesn't make up for another Jack."

Jack- "God damn it Carl you don't even know the whole story, the detectives found the source of the fire. It was from your apartment the chemicals you were using to experiment with combusted and blew….I didn't kill your wife, YOU DID!"

Carl- "LIAR, THOSE CHEMICALS WERE STABLE…. You're…. you're lying."

Jack- "Carl look at me."

Carl shook his head and refused to look as his hand began to split through the glass shard and he began to lose his grip on the window.

Jack- "LOOK AT ME!"

Carl opened his eyes and locked with Jacks

Jack- "Killing all these people….Killing yourself…it's not going to bring your wife back let me help you."

Jack stretched his arm out further but the doctor ignored his help and one again closed his eyes as the glass slid through to the edge of his hand.

Carl- "I didn't make a mistake… you did… I love you Justine."

Carl's hand slid completely off the glass and his body began to fall but Jack jumped out after him. Jack propelled himself down faster with the Mechorg energy and caught the doctor at about the third floor than using the energy again spun himself around so his feet were pointed downward towards the floor and expelled more energy to cushion his fall. Jack landed in a violent thump as debris exploded from the impact around him. Once the dust had settled Jack knelt to the floor and weakly rolled a shaken surprised Carl Bradley from his arms.

Carl- "You…saved me…again…why? This doesn't change anything."

Jack- "Because that's what hero's do."

Carl chuckled as his body went limp into unconsciousness and Jack could hear the sirens of the Police and fire department drawing near. Jack just wanted to go somewhere safe and quiet and drink the pain away but he had one more thing to do before he left. Jack limped over to the body of David Trend still in the other Hero suit. He knelt down next to his body closed David's eyes and hit the button to retract the Mechorgs back into the collar, he then took off the collar, and then removed the boots and gloves. Jack whispered an apology into David's ear as the first cop car arrived on scene. The CDC had taken a sample from a dead janitor on the outskirts of the contaminated zone earlier and had mass produced an anti-virus and these second responders were now cursed with the cleanup of this horrific scene. Sergeant Darlene Rose met Jack in the middle of the street and for the first time met him with an outstretched hand instead of the barrel of her gun. Jack quickly stuffed the collar and gloves in the pocket of his pants and tied the boots laces together and wrapped them around his neck. He cautiously crept forward for a handshake from the attractive Sergeant still leery from his confrontation with her and her men last time. Finally Jack shook the Sergeants hand and was surprised at her words of encouragement.

Sergeant Darlene Rose- "You did an excellent job here Hero, this entire city owes you their lives."

Jack looked around at the mixed emotions of the police and fire fighters in the crowd some pleased some angry.

Jack- "Thanks, but why do I feel like some of your boys still want me dead."

Darlene- "Some people were born with distrust programmed into them, even after seeing you do what you did there are some out there that will still see you as a threat."

Jack- "Are you one of those people Sergeant?"

Darlene- "No, I know a good man when I see one, everyone makes mistakes you're only human….you are human right not some weird alien man from outer space?"

Jack- "Nope born and raised here just an ordinary man with a little bit of something extra I can use to help."

Darlene- "Just an Ordinary Hero" Darlene said with a grin. "You should probably get out of here before those not so understanding people I was talking about show up."

Jack- "Yeah, you're probably right. By the way thanks for the help and the copter ride to the roof I couldn't have done any of this without you."

Darlene- "We'll met again so you can repay the favor, now get out of here."

Jack summoned the rest of his strength to propel him through the air and once again out of sight of the pursuing Officers.

MEANWHILE…..

General Caldwell sat in his chair in his office sipping on a brandy as he watched the 5'oclock news. He listened to the words of praise from some of the witnesses towards and anchor men toward Hero and the scorns and hatred from others blaming him for making Carl Bradley into the man he was. Caldwell knocked back the remainder of his drink and muttered out loud to himself.

General Caldwell- "My my Jack Canner, you've been a busy boy."

Episode 7

"ICE"

Sergeant Darlene Rose sat in her personal vehicle and monitored her partner Ashton Jenkins suspiciously check his surroundings before knocking on the door to a rundown biker bar in a shady area of the city. Darlene continued to watch through binoculars as one of the bouncers opened the door frisked Ashton and allow him entry. This bar was a hideout and a front for a Meth lab and distribution center, the property was owned by a rapidly expanding and increasingly dangerous biker gang known as the Howlers. For years the city used its best resources to infiltrate and take down this gang but the Howlers weren't stupid. Lead by a notorious murderer Ian Chatman Edwards more often referred to as ICE the Howlers managed to evade police and with their extensive hazing and initiation ceremonies which included rape and murder there was no way an undercover agent could ever make it into their society. Darlene had been monitoring the Howlers activity in the city for months now and found out that one of the main reasons this gang was so tough to bring down was that local cops were getting paid off to look the other way and Darlene's partner Officer Jenkins just so happened to be one of those cops on the Howlers payroll. Darlene got out of her car and crept to the window to try and peek in but the tint was too dark, Darlene looked around for any other method of spying on her partner and saw a ladder in an alley that lead to the roof. Darlene climbed the ladder and searched for an entrance but stopped when she heard muffled shouts below her, she searched along the roof and found a sky light window. She dusted off the dirt and looked through, down below she could see her partner and Ian Edwards arguing, Darlene pulled out a small video camera and began taping through the sky light.

Ashton Jenkins- "How long have I been helping you out Ian, six months or so? I've sat idly by and watched you peddle Meth to junkies all over this town, but what was it I told you when I started I will not let you sell this shit to kids or anyone with a future like my cousin. He's only twenty years old and he's got a promising football scholarship and one of your boys got him hooked on this shit. Now what do you think I should do about this?"

Ian Chatman Edwards- "Well, what can I tell you Jenkins it's a rough time for everyone out there in today's economy even us 'entrepreneurs' we'll take any business we can we're not picky."

Ashton-"Well I am picky Ice and I'm telling you this bullshit stops right now or I'll…"

Ian- "You'll what, run to the chief and tell him what, that you've known all about us for months now and haven't said a thing? You expecting to have a job after that Jenkins or at least an investigation on your ass, no pig I don't think you'll be doing anything about this.

Ashton- "Now you listen here asshole I don't give a shit about me or my job if you continue selling this junk to kids you're a dead man."

Ian- "Asshole, asshole, Motherfucker do you know who you're talking too? Gino break this douche bags knee caps."

Gino one of Ian's thugs immerged from the group, who were busy preparing another shipment of their drug, with an oversized crescent wrench. Gino smiled and menacingly walked towards the unarmed cop.

Ashton- "Ian what the hell are you doing, you can't…."

Ashton's sentence was cut short as the large biker swung low and cracked Ashton in the right knee cap than as he knelt down Gino did the same with the left. Ashton screamed in pain and struggled to crawl to the door but Ice kicked him over onto his back and pulled a shiny metal handgun from his waist band and pointed it at the wounded cops head.

Ian- "Who's the asshole now" Ian pulled the trigger and Ashton Jenkins brains splattered the floor of the meth lab.

Darlene gasped as she watched her partner get executed in front of her very eyes; she closed the viewfinder on the camcorder and began to shakily get to her feet when she noticed a large shadow cast over her. Darlene whipped her head around and barely made the bouncer out as he hit her in the face knocking her unconscious. Darlene woke in a panic and immediately noticed she was tied to a chair in the makeshift lab of the Howlers, she looked around and watched the thugs busily create their drug when she saw Ian enter her field of vision. Ian took a moment to examine Darlene's ID and Police badge than began to speak.

Ian- "Sergeant Darlene Rose, why does that sound so familiar….. anyways its a pleasure to meet you I wish we could have met under less… extreme circumstances but you had to be a nosey bitch." Ian lunged forward and slapped the sergeant in her face than continued.

Ian- "How much did you see sergeant?"

Darlene- "Drop dead asshole"

Ian chuckled and smirked as one of his thugs came into view with Darlene's video camera and together they watched the recording of Ice killing Ashton Jenkins.

Ian- "Aw I really wish you didn't see all that such an attractive woman it's a shame I'll have to kill you."

Ian sat on Darlene's lap and wrapped his legs around the back of the chair so he was face to face with her. Ian held her face and struggled to kiss the lips of the bound woman but Darlene bit his lip and spat blood in his face.

Ian- "YOU BITCH!" Ian said as he wiped the blood from his face and used his handkerchief to stop the bleeding. Ian slapped Darlene once again and walked out of her sight and returned with a green propane looking bottle and sat it on top of her lap.

Ian- "Do you know why they call me ICE besides the obvious reasons?"

Darlene- "Some shit about you freezing the people you kill, I don't care."

Ian- "That's an over simplistic view of things but you're partly right but it's a little more intricate than that. You see Sergeant before the Howlers, believe it or not, I was an air conditioner repairman and while doing that I discovered very interesting ways to apply Freon to human skin. Tried it first on my ex-wife who tried to get full custody of the kids what I did to her was focus the Freon gas onto one portion of the body and once it was good and frozen…"

Ian pulled the safety pin from the valve of the Freon bottle and pulled his knife out from inside his boot and continued.

Ian- "I would cut little chunks of skin off and continued doing this until her body went into shock a real nasty way to die."

Ian placed the blade of his knife to Darlene's throat as he put the hose connected to the Freon on her right hand and slowly opened the valve. Ian threw his head back to the ceiling and let out a wild howl and the rest of the Howlers did the same.

Darlene- You sick fuck you can't get away with this I'm a cop how long do you think it'll take for the whole department to realize I'm missing and storm this shithole."

Ian just smiled and laughed as the Freon began to erupt through the tube and freeze Darlene's hand, Gino stood behind his boss and watched. Suddenly Gino cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees and gasped for breath while he clawed at his throat. Ian whirled around and knocked the bottle of Freon off Darlene's lap. Gino's neck twisted and snapped and something powerful threw his body against the wall, Ian pulled his gun and frantically searched for Gino's attacker. As Ian and the rest of the Howlers fired wildly at a noise in the corner of the room, Jack Canner in the Hero suit immerged into view behind Ian Edwards and tapped him on the shoulder. Ian spun around and attempted to strike Jack with a pistol whip to the head but Jack caught his arm and pushed him backwards into the chemicals and beakers for the drugs on the table. The chemicals burst into flames and Ice was enveloped in the hazardous liquids and fire, Ian screamed and rolled on the floor until he snuffed out the fire. The rest of the Howlers opened fire on Jack and after a couple rounds connected with the Hero suit jack vented a wave of energy that sent a part of the group tumbling back into the wall. Jack sprinted towards the rest of the Howlers through their gunfire and got close enough to begin to disarm them. Jack grabbed a thug shotgun yanked it out of his hands and clobbered him across the face with it than threw the gun at another's neck making him choke and loose grip of his pistol. Jack kicked the coughing thug in the head knocking him unconscious and turned to the final Howler who had just armed himself with a machine gun. The last remaining Howler opened fire and Jack stumbled back as he took rounds and the Mechorgs squelched as they took damage and flaked off the suit. Jack vented the energy through his boots and powerfully flew across the room and tackled the thug to the floor. The Howler reached around Jacks head and accidentally pressed the switch to retract Jacks Helmet, Jack slammed his fists into the Howlers face until it was a bloody pulp than reached back to flip the switch for his helmet when the familiar sound of a gun hammer cocked back. Ian Edwards stood triumphantly behind Jack just out of range to see his face but from that angle he had a perfect lock on the back of Jacks head with his pistol. Ian wheezed and grunted in pain disfigured singed skin showed on thirty percent of his body mostly on his face.

Ian- "End of the road asshole, I'm really going to enjoy this"

Suddenly Ian was hit on the back of the head and fell to his knees showing Darlene Rose with the green Freon bottle standing over him. Darlene spat on Ian's unconscious body while Jack stood and went for the switch to bring out his helmet but Darlene stopped him before he did.

Darlene- "No wait….How did you find me?"

Jack stood with his back turned towards Darlene and replied

Jack- "I've been monitoring these Howler punks for weeks now figured I'd get them on camera and deliver it to you guys get them on drug trafficking."

Jack once again reached for the switch

Darlene- "Wait, you saved my life…Thank you"

Jack- "No thanks necessary I'm just repaying my debt from last time and since you saved my ass right there I guess I'm in your debt once again."

Darlene- "You can pay me back now… let me see who you are, you do such good things you should be acknowledged you shouldn't have to hide behind that mask."

Jack gulped loudly and looked at the Sergeants reflection in an overturned polished metal table. Darlene was one of the most beautiful women Jack had ever seen and ever since the Carl Bradley ordeal she had been nothing but helpful, but could he really trust her?

Darlene-"We need your help more than you know Hero, not just with the Howlers but with all these bloodthirsty scumbags in this city I've never admitted it before but it's just too much to handle for us. Please we can help each other."

Jack hesitated a little longer and realized he was tired of hiding from everyone he wanted others besides Michael to see the good he was doing, so slowly he turned around and locked eyes with Darlene Rose.

Darlene- "O my God, the security guard from Menstrength?"

Jack stepped closer and removed a mini SD recording card from a slot in his helmet and handed it to Darlene.

Jack- "Here this is everything I recorded on Ice and the Howlers it should be enough to put these pricks away for a long time, and the names Jack."

Darlene- "Jack….ok…did you know about Ashton this whole time… I mean does any of this footage have him on there?"

Jack-"Yes, unfortunately and I'm sorry I couldn't save him I screwed up and didn't react I'm still getting used to this whole one man army thing."

Darlene- "Well it doesn't have to be like that anymore Jack, and don't worry about Ashton he got himself into this mess it's not your fault."

Jack and Darlene held eye contact for a few moments longer before Darlene's cell phone ringing broke the silence. Darlene answered and reported her situation to the person on the other end, she lifted her finger to gesture Jack to wait a minute but Jack had enough exposure for one day and he felt kind of vulnerable at that moment. Jack flipped the switch to bring out his helmet and vented the energy to propel him through the sky light Darlene looked up through the hole in the glass and smiled. Back at Menstrength pharmaceuticals General Harvey Caldwell walked through the security gate with two armed soldiers and got into the lobby elevator. He got out on level twelve and had his guards stand outside while he walked into Michael Clyde's office and shut the door.

Michael- "General, our appointment isn't for another hour I'm still very busy if you can wait outside we can talk later."

General Caldwell- "No, Michael I've waited long enough. Do you really think I wouldn't notice Canner running around town fighting crime with my Mechorg tech?"

Michael- "General I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about and if your thinking about going public and accusing Menstrength and one of my most dedicated employees of being involved in these vigilante incidents I will sue you for slander."

General Caldwell- "Don't insult my intelligence Michael its very convenient that Hero showed up right around the time Canner was up to his ass in IAS9."

Michael-" General if you would have read my Police report instead of just barging in here making assumptions, one of our own a Dr. Joseph Mixer began to sneak out the IAS9 and distribute it illegally. One of his patients was of course Alexander but who knows how many others he could have sold the IAS9 too and included in that report was a missing Mechorg containment collar. What I'm getting at here Harvey is that Hero could be anyone and I assure you Jack is now IAS9 free due to his body's rejection of the drug during the trials."

General Caldwell- "So everything's just wrapped up in a nice neat little package isn't it, I don't believe a goddamn word you're saying I want to see Jack Canner in front of me right now."

Jack walked through the door hearing all the racket and announced himself

Jack- "Well here I am commander dick head."

Caldwell spun around and angrily stared at Jack

Caldwell- "You better watch yourself boy I've killed men for saying less, you can't seriously stand there and tell me you're not the Hero, for fuck sake all signs point to you I'm not stupid."

Jack- "Like the Doctor said we got robbed, a lot of IAS9 and other Tech were stolen by Dr. Mixer."

Caldwell stepped closer to Jack and went toe to toe with the guard.

Caldwell- "You're not fooling anyone Jack, I saw what you can do at the demonstration why don't I just take a blood sample right now so I can clear you of all this hmm?"

Jack-"Good luck getting a warrant for that Caldwell, you are all on private property and it is my right as a Security Officer on behalf of Menstrength Pharmaceuticals to ask you to leave, have a great day."

Jack smiled and the General chuckled and began to walk out than turned around again to say one final thing before exiting.

General- "You know Michael, you guys did an excellent job with my Mechorgs that suit is really impressive and since the development of it was done with military funding that means its property of the U.S. government and I'd like that back immediately please."

Michael- "Very well General, I'll have Officer Canner deliver the Mechorg research to you at your convey off property."

General Caldwell walked out and he and his two soldiers walked off property to their jeeps. Jack argued the Doctor to reconsider as the two went down the secret elevator to the sub lab to pick up the Mechorg equipment.

Jack-"You can't seriously be going along with this, there's no telling what that maniac will do with this tech it's too dangerous."

Michael-" I've got no choice Jack the General is right the Mechorg research was done with Military funding we don't own any of this, I'm sorry my hands are tied."

Jack- "Well mine aren't." Jack said as he gathered the Hero suit components and Mechorg collars and containers and placed them in a duffel bag."

Michael- "You still have your equipment at home right? I'm sure the General will check our inventory list here on site to make sure we didn't keep anything."

Jack-"Yeah, I've got everything." Jack said and he walked the duffel bag off property and into the hands of General Caldwell.

Caldwell- "I'll be seeing you real soon Jack."

Jack-"You can count on that General." And with that the Generals convoy drove towards the secret military base in the outskirts of the town.

The General exited his jeep and before he could even get through the door a group of scientists excitedly surrounded him.

Scientist- "General Sir, we've tried everything but the IAS10 is just too potent for the SFB units. The Accelerator pushes the units into deep mental breakdown which included paranoia, fits of aggressive rage and an absolute no response to direct orders. They've lost all discipline and are completely out of control."

General- "How many SFB units are still active?"

Scientist-"We've dosed all SFB units as you instructed sir and unfortunately only three have survived and those three have slipped into the mental breakdown I mentioned before."

General-"Show them too me."

The General and his team of scientists walked into a poorly lit room and in the middle was a thick glass cage housing the experimental SFB units, the smoke from the accelerant still lingering inside. The General stepped closer and stared through the glass trying to get a glimpse of his soldiers. Suddenly a figure of a man immerged through the smoke and insanely ran into the glass and rammed his head against it; the General jumped back and pulled his pistol. The enraged SFB unit slammed his fist on the glass and growled at the General, from that close Caldwell noticed the blood dripping from the soldier's eyes, nose and mouth and noticed the hideous growths of muscle bulging through his camouflage gear. The two other SFB units waded through the smoke as well and began beating on the glass ferociously.

General- "Soldiers get a hold of yourselves at once, stand at attention that is a direct order!"

The soldiers ignored the General and continued to slam their bodies against the glass; it was at that moment that the General saw the error of his ways.

General- "You're right this is too much for them, we need to start smaller we need IAS9. But knowing those assholes at Menstrength they'll incinerate it if I get close, there's got to be another way."

The General handed the duffel bag full of the Mechorg equipment to his lead scientist and asked him to take a look. The scientist opened the bag and looked puzzled as he examined a vial of Mechanical organisms.

Scientist- "These appear to be microscopic insects of some kind they look almost mechanical."

General- "Tell me something I don't know doc."

Scientist- "We'll sir, with all due respect this isn't my area of expertise this is more of a microbiology thing and if I remember correctly Dr. Carl Bradley was the militaries top microbiologists until…"

General- "Wait, Bradley the same guy that unleashed that virus, the same guy who blamed Hero for his wife's death?"

Scientist-"Yes, sir but Dr. Bradley's very unstable now and is currently residing at Safe Harbor asylum.

General- "Excellent Doctor, it's so simple why didn't I realize this sooner."

The General ripped the vial of Mechorgs from the scientists hand threw it back in the duffel bag and walked into his office to make some phone calls.

MEANWHILE….

At Safe Harbor mental institution for the criminally insane Dr. Carl Bradley, Alexander Menstrength and Ian Chatman Edwards sat in their cells waiting out another long day in their consecutive life sentences. A tired irritated orderly walked through the halls handing out the prisoners medications. The orderly stopped by Dr. Bradley's cell the longest and handed him a cup with only one white pill in it.

Orderly- "Someone gave me a lot of money to get you this pill Doc; they said it would only hurt for a moment."

The orderly walked away and Carl studied the pill than read a tiny note left inside the pill cup. It read _I'LL HELP YOU FIND CANNER_

Carl's blood boiled at the mention of that name and he quickly swallowed the pill realizing anything was better than the current position he was in now. Hours later Ian Edwards and Alexander Menstrength conversed through their cells.

Ian- "Psst, Hey you"

Alexander- "What do you want?"

Ian- "You don't look so good."

Alexander took a moment to examine his reflection and noticed his face was white with dark circles under his eyes and he had lost all his muscle and definition he had achieved from the IAS10 overdose. Between the IAS10 withdrawals and the Cancer slowly eating away at him he was now in a wheel chair and just days away from death.

Alexander- "Very observant of you now leave me alone to die."

Ian- "I saw you on the news, you were huge and so powerful what happened?"

Alexander- "Hero happened that's what; let's just say he took away my medicine."

Ian- "Aw that rat bastard got to you too?"

Alexander- "Wait Canner took you down too?"

Ian- "Whose Canner?"

Alexander- "Jack Canner is the Hero."

Suddenly Carl Bradley chimed in.

Carl- "All of us were beat by that Jack Canner but…but…he's…. going to…."

Carl's sentence trailed off as he went into convulsions and after a moment lay still, Ian and Alexander yelled for the nurses and a few minutes later they showed up and entered his cell. The doctor checked Carl Bradley's pulse and shook his head; they put Carl's body on a gurney and wheeled him out to a Hearst. Ian and Alex looked at each other and at that moment they knew exactly what the other were thinking, Hero had beaten Carl to an inch of his life and he died in agony here, Hero had ruined all their lives and they would make him pay somehow.

TWO DAYS LATER….

The same orderly walked down the halls of the Safe Harbor mental institute on his rounds of the property when he stopped and lingered again this time at the cell of Ian Chatman Edwards. The orderly hesitantly placed something silver into the slot of Ice's cell and walked away. Ian reached into his food tray/ medicine slot and pulled out a silver necklace with a large round black/gold pendant hanging from it and underneath there was a note and a list of instructions. Ian read the instructions once more still perplexed but decided to follow them and he pushed the button on the top of the pendant. Tiny black/gold bugs erupted from a slit in the pendant and began to cover his body, Ian began to yell and rip at the bugs on his skin and the commotion attracted the attention of the orderly who rushed back to the cell and tried to steady his hand as he frightfully stuck the key in the lock of Ian's cell door. The orderly called out to Ian who was standing in a dark corner of the cell and dropped the keys, the orderly knelt down to grab the keys and when he came back up his eyes slowly studied the Mechorg covered body of Ice standing at the door of the cell. The gold/ black bugs enveloped Ian's body all the way to his chin and top of his hair line still leaving his burned, mangled face exposed.

Ice- "Here let me help you with that"

Ian said as he brushed his hand against the Plexiglas wall of the cell and a layer of black Mechorg's was left that started to eat away and disintegrate the glass. Ice reached through the hole in the glass wall and grabbed the keys from the orderly now paralyzed by fear watching this large man with black and gold covered armor unlock his own cell. Ice rotated the key to the left, the door opened and he walked out, Ian helped the stunned orderly back to his feet and dusted him off then with his hand still clutched to the orderly's arm, Ice snickered as a golden layer of Mechorgs transferred from him to the Orderly wrapping the orderly entirely in a solid cocoon of gold Mechorg's. Ice took a moment to examine the orderly's frozen frightened face than lazily kicked the statue of a man over where it hit the ground and exploded into thousands of golden pieces, the golden Mechorgs crawled up and returned to Ice's all black suit bringing back its blotchy golden color on top. Alex saw this whole show and applauded behind his cell doors

Alexander- "There is only one man I know who could get a hold of the Mechorg tech from Menstrength Inc."

Ice walked to Alex's cell and with the help of the black Mechorgs made a hole big enough for Alex's wheel chair and when Alex was outside his cell he handed him two purple IAS10 pills. Alex stared wide eyed at the pills than hungrily chewed them up and swallowed them.

Ice- "I take it that's your medicine?"

Alex only smiled as his body absorbed the IAS10 and he slowly and shakily rose up out of his wheelchair. Ice lead Alex down the hall and fended off a couple of oncoming orderly's, melting them with the black Mechorg's and together Alexander Menstrength and Ian Edwards walked off the Safe Harbor property and disappeared into the woods nearby. The alarms from Safe Harbor could be heard by the two men as they quickly ran through the thick brush finally Alex stopped to catch his breath (the IAS10 still hadn't made a drastic impact on his body without the accelerant) Alex yelled at Ice to stop and through labored breaths asked where they were going. Ice pointed to a blinking light in the distance through the forest and the two men crept closer once they had made it to their destination they were meet by a soldier who directed them to a humvee. Alex and Ice jumped in and were surprised to see Carl Bradley sitting next to General Caldwell. Carl looked at Ice for a moment admiring his Hero suit.

Carl- "How do you like your new suit Ice, I designed it myself those little bugs have numerous untapped potential that not even Menstrength was aware of."

Ice- "I think I'll keep it Doc."

Alex-"Carl how the hell are you still alive?"

Carl- "General Caldwell delivered a dose of Tetrodotoxin which lowered my pulse and body temperature making the nurses think I was dead, when they shipped out my body the General cut off the Hearst driver and picked me up. He promised me Jack Canners life if I helped him, he's promising you all that reward for your service."

General Caldwell handed Alex two more IAS10 pills and addressed the two new comers

General Caldwell- "Canner has something I need to make perfect soldiers, it's in his blood, bring him to me alive and once I'm done with him… he's all yours."

Alexander and Ian looked at each other and nodded their heads in approval and the General gave the order for his driver to move out.

Episode 8

Season Finale-Part one

"Hell to Pay"

Jack Canner gracefully landed out of thin air in the middle of a grassy area in a nearby park. He checked his surroundings than ran into the public restroom, once inside he retracted the Mechorgs back into their collar housing and took off the gloves and stuffed them in his pocket. Jack looked around at the graffiti on the walls and the empty rolls of toilet paper than noticed the smell and said out loud to himself

Jack- "Not as eloquent as the Bat cave but she'll do."

Jack was referring to his new changing spot that he had used on many different occasions to transform into the Hero. The bathroom was in a woodland area covered by brush and trees and rarely visited by security and cops, which probably was the reason it was in such poor shape with the vandalism. The park bathroom was close to Dillon's house and Jack utilized it to change at a moment's notice if he heard anything on the scanners, he had just gotten back from helping the Police with a mad man on the city streets shooting wildly at pedestrians and passer bys and while adjusting his tie on his security uniform (since Dillon believed he was out working overtime) Jack recapped the day's events. Using his police scanner at home, that was given to him by the beautiful Sergeant Rose; he overheard a panicked conversation from the police on scene about a man armed with automatic weapons walking the streets firing wildly. Jack continued monitoring the radio traffic until the situation got out of hand and Sergeant Rose quickly blurted out Jacks call sign "Code Henry". She had used this call sign numerous times to signal for Jack and all though the dispatchers were completely baffled by the code Jack knew exactly what it meant; Henry was the phonetic spelling for the letter H, H meaning Hero. Jack quickly gathered his equipment; the Mechorg collar he had hidden in a hole in the wall behind his medicine cabinet along with the gloves and IAS9 pills and put on the regular looking Mechorg boots he nonchalantly placed in his closet. Jack gave the same excuse to Dillon he had used time and time again about an emergency at work (which Dillon easily believed after the Alex Menstrength Fiasco) and grabbed his security uniform and bolted out the door. Jack drove his old pickup to the park changed into his usual T-shirt and tactical cargo pants and engaged the Hero suit, than he responded to the scene with the armed man. Once on scene Jack landed in front of the man who was aiming his rifle at a woman hunkering down and hiding underneath a car. Jack took a few rounds of gunfire than slapped the gun out of the crazed mans hands and knocked him unconscious. Jack stood and listened to the mixed uproar from the civilians and Cops and through all the mayhem Jack focused on the smiling face of Darlene amongst the crowd of Police ordering them to stand down but be vigilant as to not raise suspicion that she was working with Hero. Jack nodded her way and smiled under his helmet than vented through the boots and leapt onto the roof of a nearby building and headed back to the park. Unknown to Jack and Darlene a man inside of a postal delivery truck monitored Jacks direction of travel and followed him, the man wore the postal company's hat low to cover his face as he drove after Jack trying hard to keep up. Jack snapped out of his recap when he heard footsteps outside and muttered words were exchanged before the footsteps got closer to the bathroom door, had someone followed him no one ever used this restroom so early in the day since he had been using it. Jack hid behind the door and waited for the unknown persons to step in before he whirled around the door and grabbed two teens by their collars and put them against the wall. The teens dropped the spray-paint cans and bottles of opened beer they had in their hands and began to curse at Jack who they mistook for the properties security guard because of his uniform.

Teen one- "Put us down you fucking rent a cop I didn't do shit."

Teen Two- "Yeah man fuck you, you just can't be grabbing people and shit, I'll sue your ass so hard, we didn't do anything."

Jack- "Sorry boys thought you were someone else, but judging from the beer and paint you weren't here to have a picnic. I'm the new sheriff in town here so why don't you run on home and don't let me catch you here again."

Jack dropped the boys and they ran out the bathroom door cursing and threatening the whole time, Jack picked up his gear bag and walked to his truck that was parked in the lot just outside the park area. Jack jumped in his truck and drove for the exit; behind him the mysterious man in the postal truck followed Jack till he arrived home and sat patiently in the truck while Jack went inside. Jack closed and locked the door and when he turned around met the grinning face of Dillon who was sitting on the couch.

Dillon- "A visitors here for you, a visitor of the female kind you sly dog you."

Jack stood perplexed he didn't have any female friends and with his hectic schedule of saving the city he didn't have time for a girlfriend either.

Jack-"What are you talking about I don't…"

Jacks sentence was cut short by a familiar woman's voice calling from the kitchen advising Dillon that there were only three beers left. Darlene Rose walked into the room in a white blouse and blue jeans with a beer and met the surprised look of Jack.

Darlene- "Hi Jack"

Jack- "What… what's wrong? Is everything ok?"

Darlene- "Everything's fine can we talk alone for a moment."

Jack directed Darlene to his room and Dillon stared down the hall and gave a wink and thumbs up before Jack closed his bedroom door.

Jack- "How did you find me?"

Darlene- "I'm a cop remember."

Jack-"You shouldn't be coming here it could be dangerous for both of us."

Darlene- "I know, but I just realized I never properly thanked you for saving me from the Howlers."

Darlene began unbuttoning her blouse revealing her lacey bra underneath but Jack grabbed her by the wrists and stopped her. His forehead touched hers and his mouth was just inches away from her soft lips, Jacks lips quivered wanting so badly to meet hers but this whole situation was a bad idea.

Jack-"We can't…. imagine if anyone finds out, imagine what could happen to me….to you…to us."

Darlene- "You don't have to worry, everything's going to be all right."

Darlene caressed Jacks cheek and they shared a long passionate kiss than Jack ripped her blouse off and laid her down on his bed. Hours later Jack woke and kissed the head of Darlene who was lying on his chest and took a moment to admire her beauty again than stared at the ceiling fan. Jacks watch beeped on his bedside table telling him it was 8'oclock and time to take his daily two IAS9 pills. Jack slowly lifted Darlene's head trying not to wake her, wrapped the covers around his torso and made his way to the bathroom. He closed and locked the bathroom door and cautiously removed the miscellaneous pills from within the medicine cabinet than slid back a hidden piece of the cabinet backing exposing the hole in the wall with the pills. He grabbed the bottle of pills and took two IAS9's than put everything back. Jack walked outside and was surprised to see Darlene getting dressed he bent down and kissed her neck and the two wrestled for a moment before Jack allowed her to playfully pin him down. Their eyes locked and Darlene began opening up to Jack.

Darlene- "I haven't been completely honest with you Jack."

Jack- "What are you talking about?"

Darlene- "I wasn't at the Howlers hideout just to tail my partner; I was there to get enough evidence to put Ian behind bars for life, to really make him pay."

Jack-"Pay for what?"

Darlene- "My father, Bob Rose a detective, was put undercover in the Howlers when they were first becoming a problem. But when Ice found out my dad was a cop he brutally killed him and went as far as dumping his body on my mother's doorstep. I couldn't have put Ian away without you Jack… I would have been dead if it wasn't for you. You're probably going to find this out on the news later today anyways but there was a break out at the sanitarium were Ian was held. He's escaped Jack, along with others that the department hasn't advised me of yet and I know it's asking a lot but I need you to find Ice and make him pay for what he did to my father, I don't want him arrested this time I want him dead.

Jacks stared blankly at this goddess on top of him and thought hard about what she was asking of him and said nothing. Jack looked to the left and noticed it was almost eight thirty and he was going to be late for work. He rolled Darlene off him and got dressed as the two walked out Darlene saw that Dillon was watching a recap of a basketball game from the night prior and decided to sit down and watch it with Dillon.

Jack- "Don't you have to get to work?"

Darlene- "Not till noon"

Jack-"Must be nice"

Jack gave Darlene one more kiss than walked out the door, he loaded his truck with his gear bag still containing the Mechorg collar and gloves and noticed a postal truck parked a few houses down from Dillon's. With his near perfect memory he knew that this truck had been parked there the other night and Jack cautiously crept up to it and examined it thoroughly but couldn't find the driver or anything suspicious, he looked down at his watch again and ran to his truck realizing he was now late. As Jack drove down the street out of sight the mysterious postal man reappeared from behind the corner of a neighboring house, walked up to the door of Dillon's and knocked. Dillon looked at Darlene from inside the house and nodded towards the door.

Darlene- "Don't look at me this isn't my house."

The door bell rang again and Dillon let out a sigh, got up and walked towards the door.

Dillon- "Who is it?"

Postal worker- "Delivery for a Jack Canner."

Dillon peered through the doors peephole and saw the postal worker holding a box but couldn't make out his face because his hat was worn too low. Dillon opened the door and continued his conversation with this mystery man.

Dillon- "Jacks not here right now."

The mysterious postal worker looked up and the veiny face of an IAS10 dosed Alexander Menstrength grinned and powerfully pushed Dillon into the wall knocking him unconscious.

Alexander- "I know he's not."

Alex stepped into the entry way and was greeted by Darlene Rose standing in a firing position holding a small revolver she had pointed at his chest.

Darlene- "Police dick head, put your hands on your head and drop to your knees."

Alex kept creeping closer and Darlene tightened her grip on her pistol.

Alexander- "You must be Jack's new squeeze; very nice the Hero's always do get the pretty ladies don't they?"

Alex kicked the front door closed and continued his advancement, the door slammed and inside the house shots could be heard than the sounds of a struggle a muffled scream, than silence. Jack arrived at Menstrength Inc and was surprised to see no one at the gate; he stopped at the closed gate and after a few moments of waiting and honking got out of his truck to investigate his missing security guard. Jack walked around the perimeter of the guard shack calling out the guards name but still got no response; Jack peered through the window and saw the guard lying on his stomach on the floor apparently unconscious. Jack easily kicked the door in and felt for the guards pulse but felt none; he rolled him over and jumped back at the hideous sight in front of him. The body looked like it had been burned with acid, the skin had melted away revealing pink tissue and muscle and some portions of his face and chest had been disintegrated to the bone. Jack quickly hit the button opening the gate, jumped back in his truck and drove onto property. He reached inside his gear bag and pulled out the collar and gloves and put them on, Jack did his best to hide his collar under his jacket and slowly walked into the lobby holding his gun at the ready. Jack examined the lobby and saw the shadow of the hiding receptionist in the corner, Jack walked around the desk and his breath was taken away again by another disgusting sight. The receptionist was sitting in her chair covered in golden Mechorgs and Jack could see her frozen face screaming in fear and her hands held high to guard herself. Jack touched the frozen body of the receptionist and that gentle touch made the receptionist statue explode into millions of golden pieces of flesh. Jack stumbled back in horror and watched the golden Mechorgs fuse back together and scurry towards the stairwell and Jack followed them. Jack continued pacing the tiny mechanical bugs until they reached the twelfth floor and slid under the door Jack kicked open the door, pointed his gun and swept it side to side surveying the area. Jack heard a mumbled argument from Dr. Michael Clyde's office and he slowly crept along the wall to check it out, once he was in close enough Jack looked into Michael's office and saw Ian Chatman Edwards wearing a black and gold Mechorg Hero suit holding the doctor by the throat.

Ice- "I'm going to keep you alive so you can pass on this one message for me can you do that doctor?"

Michael nodded his head in pain while grasping the hands of the Hero suited serial killer

Ice- "Good you tell Canner we got his buddy and his girl at the base, tell him to come alone or they both die."

Jack- "Why don't you tell me directly asshole."

Jack turned the corner and entered the office in the Hero suit. Ice smiled, dropped Michael to the floor and whirled around spraying a layer of black Mechorgs over Jack's suit and the wall behind him. Jack held his arm up to block the hit and Jack's Mechorgs screamed and disintegrated from the foreign mechanical micro organisms. Jack yelped in pain as the black Mechorgs ate through his Hero suit and began to slowly eat away his skin underneath. With Jacks right vent glove completely destroyed from the black Mechorgs Jack lifted his left arm and vented, the cloud of energy hit Ice and he toppled out the window. Jack ran to Michael's side and checked to see if he was ok, Michael assured him he was fine so Jack looked out the window to check on Ice. Surprisingly Ice, with his Hero suit absorbing the impact, survived the twelve story fall and was slowly getting back up to his feet. Jack jumped out the window and slowed the fall with vented energy from his boots, he stormed up to Ice and kicked him back to the floor. Ice coughed up blood and spat on Jack's helmet as Jack knelt down and grabbed Ice by his Mechorg containment collar.

Jack- "What's Caldwell up too?!"

Ice- "you're in this way too deep Canner, you fucked with the wrong people and now there's going to be hell to pay!"

Ice grabbed Jacks exposed skin on his right arm and a layer of gold Mechorgs began to run off Ice's suit and envelope Jacks arm. Jack snapped back and released his hold on Ice while trying to tear away at the gold mechanical bugs slowly forming a hardened layer on his skin. Ice kicked Jack in the chest and Jack lost his balance and stumbled over landing on his right arm, the force shattered the golden Mechorgs and Jack writhed in pain on the floor as he stared at the bones of his fingers and forearm. Jack fought to stay conscious expecting more fight from Ice but when he shakily got to his feet he saw Ice running through the perimeter fence using black Mechorgs to burn right through it, before he continued Ice turned around and yelled one more thing at Jack.

Ice- "You know where to find us Jack, we'll be waiting."

Jack shuffled weakly through the front doors of the lobby and as he stood in the elevator listening to the girl from Ipenema he took a moment to examine his badly damaged arm and noticed the IAS9 was working overtime slowly forming more skin on his ivory white bones. Jack got out of the elevator on the twelfth floor and began walking down the corridor the couple feet feeling like a couple miles in Jacks weakened state. Finally Jack rounded the corner back into Michael's office and sat in the chair on the other side of his desk. Michael exited the secret elevator and ran back into his office a first aid bag, Mechorg containers and an envelope of IAS9 pills in his arms. Michael handed Jack an IAS9 pill and poured him a glass of water.

Michael-"Here take this."

Jack-"Is it safe?"

Michael- "You've lost a lot of blood and burned off too much IAS9 you need it trust me."

Jack took the pill and Michael opened a container of Mechorgs and injected it into a port on the collar. Jack looked down and watched as simultaneously the IAS9 took effect and grew back his skin while the new Mechorgs covered his arm in a dull grey protective layer of pliable armor. Jack grabbed another vent glove for his right hand from the desk full of Hero suit parts and turned back to Michael

Jack-"Michael, what the hell is going on?"

Michael- "Your guess is as good as mine but I assume Caldwell has something to do with it."

Jack-"I assumed as much, I need to get to the base, Ice was talking about Dillon and Darlene being held there."

Jack got to his feet still weak but beginning to feel better

Michael- "Jack there's no telling what Caldwell's got up his sleeve, you can't do this alone you should call the police."

Jack- "If I do that he'll kill them both, you heard what Ice said I've got to handle this alone."

Jack ran past Michael and once again jumped out the window. Darlene Rose's eyes fluttered open and she noticed she was tied to a table in the center of a laboratory. She frantically searched around and screamed when she saw three bulky towering soldiers bleeding from their eyes ears and mouth staring at her from inside a Plexiglas prison. She looked to her left and saw Dillon Towne tied to another table directly beside her; Darlene struggled to get free of her plastic handcuffs binding her to the table while she called out for Dillon to wake up. Darlene looked past Dillon's unconscious body and noticed General Caldwell talking to one of his scientists.

Scientist- "We've found a way to introduce both the IAS10 and the accelerant simultaneously into the blood stream causing an immediate but unfortunately temporary reaction. The IAS10's direct exposure to the vocal cords also introduced an interesting side affect"

The scientist handed the General what looked like an asthma inhaler and the General studied it closely. The scientist noticed Darlene's eyes fixed on them and nudged the General, Caldwell turned around and smiled at the now conscious woman and motioned to someone out of her field of vision.

Caldwell-"Mr. Edwards, if you'd please take care of her for me we wouldn't want to spoil the surprise before the big show."

Darlene arched her back and rotated her head as far as she could just in time to see Ian Edwards run up behind her and knock her unconscious with a single blow to the face. Jack landed from a propelled jump in a nearby field close to the Generals base and used his eagle like vision to zoom in and check the entrance gate and perimeter of the facility. Surprisingly Jack didn't see a single soldier standing guard and although Jack felt like it was a trap he needed to get in there to save Dillon and Darlene, so Jack prepared himself for anything and quickly ran for the fence. Jack leaped over the barbed wire fence and landed inside the base parking lot, he whirled around his arms extended to vent energy and blow anything that came his way but still there was no activity. Jack ran up the reinforced metal door leading into the base's demonstration gym area and tried to pry it open with his bare hands. The door must have weighed two tons and even with Jack's IAS9 induced strength he couldn't make it budge. Suddenly the door began to open for him and Jack took a couple steps back and braced himself for a fight, he held both his fists up and his thumbs at the ready on the pressure switches to his vent gloves. The door completely opened and out came one soldier armed with only a handgun still holstered on his belt.

Soldier- "I trust you're alone?"

Jack nodded his head yes

Soldier- "The General's been expecting you please follow me."

Jack stepped into the facility and the heavy door slowly shut behind him, Jack braced himself for an ambush as he followed the soldier down the familiar hallway to the demonstration arena. The soldier opened the door leading into the arena floor and motioned Jack to enter, Jack walked in and the soldier closed the door behind him. Jack whirled around and began to beat open the door but stopped when he noticed the lights to the arena begin to flicker on. Jack turned back to the arena floor and his blood ran cold from the sight of his best friend and new lover bound and gagged. Behind Dillon was Dr. Carl Bradley with a gun to his head and behind Darlene was Ice slowly cutting the buttons of her blouse off with a sharp hunting knife. The General stood in the middle of the two crazed men and began to shout out to Jack.

General Caldwell- "Mr. Canner, so glad you could join us."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Episode 9

Season Finale-Part Two

"Hell to pay"

Jack Canner studied the terrified eyes of Darlene and Dillon, than reached back to hit the switch to retract his helmet into his collar. Dillon's eyes went wide as he found out for the first time his best friend was the Hero. Jack stared intensely at the General and growled out his first sentence

Jack-"Ok Caldwell, what's this all about?"

General Caldwell- "Aw right to the point I can appreciate that, well although Alex's blood was powerful it was a bit too potent. I need to start phase one and work my way up like you did otherwise I get a bunch of monster's as soldiers. Jack we believed in the IAS9 formula and we made it possible to advance I just want what's rightfully mine."

Jack- "So you want to bleed me dry and beef up your freak show soldiers? We told you General IAS9 was made with Menstrength funding you only helped move it to the weapon stages."

Caldwell- "We'll seeing as I've got two of your loved ones up here Jack I don't think you're in a position to say no. Come with me give me all the blood I need for IAS9 samples and I'll let these two go, and maybe if you survive Mr. Edwards and Bradley you'll make it out alive as well."

Jack examined the crazed faces of his two villains and deep down truly believed they would kill Dillon and Darlene the first moment they got, Jack had to make a move.

Caldwell- "We're waiting Jack… clocks ticking…..3….2…1…"

Jack- "Ok, ok you got a deal just don't hurt them."

Jack began to walk towards the stage the General and his evil henchmen were standing on and quickly began deriving a plan in his head. He noticed Carl's finger was not on the trigger of his gun but Ice had the blade of the knife firmly planted to Darlene's neck. Jack had to decide who to save first and in split second act on saving the other last. Jack continued surveying the situation with Carl's finger placement and Ian's knife and he had no choice but to react before they both got killed. Jack quickened his pace and walked up the last step of the stage, once he was in range Jack took aim with his left vent glove and quickly expelled energy connecting with Ice's right shoulder sending him spiraling backwards off the stage. Time slowed as Jack watched Darlene roll safely off the stage and he went for Dillon and his attacker next. But in that quick millisecond it took for Jack to react and take out Ice, Carl Bradley had already placed his finger back on the trigger. Time sped up again as Jack lunged for the doctor tackling him off the stage just as Bradley pulled the trigger shooting Dillon, Jack's best friend in the back of the head. Jack and Carl tumbled to the floor and Carl scrambled for the gun that lie just inches away from him but Jack was on top of the evil doctor in seconds. Jack swatted the gun away than he looked at the limp body of his friend lying at the base of the stage stairs.

Jack- "DILLON NO!"

Jack continued staring through pain filled eyes at Dillon's body until his focus was drawn back to Carl Bradley who said something that made Jack's head whip back in astonishment and rage.

Carl Bradley- "Your friend for my wife, I think we're about even now."

Jack stared with tremendous hate at the doctors grinning face and growled.

Jack- "Not even close."

Jack vented the Mechorg energy directly into the doctor's chest and from that distance it collapsed his rib cage and punched a hole in his heart. Jack kept eye contact with Carl as he gurgled blood and his eyes went lifeless. Jack jumped up from the dead scientist's body and whirled around to attack the General but in the moment of distraction Caldwell had fled. Jack grabbed Bradley's gun and walked over to Darlene who was busy untying the ropes that bound her hands together behind her back. Jack knelt down and pulled the gag from her mouth than untied the rest of the rope and handed her Carl's gun.

Jack-"Take this and find a way out of here, don't stop for anything and don't come back for me."

Darlene- "I'm not leaving you, let me help."

Jack- "No it's too dangerous, I already lost Dillon I'm not going to lose you too now quick being so goddamn stubborn and get the hell out of here."

Jack kissed Darlene once more and ran for the exit doors that lead to the corridor were the General's office was located. Jack stood at the doors and checked to make sure Darlene had left and thankfully she had, just as Jack kicked open the door a searing pain shot through his back. Jack whirled around to meet his attacker while black Mechorgs ate away at his suit and back. Ian Edwards tackled Jack through the doors leading into the hallway and reached around his collar to retract his helmet.

ICE- "Let's see that pretty face you piece of shit."

Jack struggled for a moment but then grabbed Ian's nose in between his two fingers and broke it with a loud snap. Ice fell backwards and held his bleeding face in his hand and Jack made a break for it, Jack rounded a corner and stopped when his eyes met the General who was standing at the door way of his office smiling. Jack continued his pursuit but a shadow from a large man intersected him from another hallway and tackled Jack through a wall. Jack slid along the floor of a strange laboratory and began to push himself up but the large shadow darted towards him again and landed a powerful kick to the stomach sending Jack flying into another wall. When Jack regained his composer and shook his head clear of his disorientation he caught a glimpse of Alexander Menstrength coming at him again this time with a large oxygen tank held high over his head. Jack blocked the tank with his forearm making it fume out the crack in the cylinder and landed a few powerful jab to Alex's stomach, the beast of a man staggered back than chuckled.

Alexander Menstrength- "You're going to have to do better than that this time Jack, Caldwell's scientists beefed up the IAS10 formula I am completely unstoppable now."

Jack- "Yeah, we'll you're still ugly."

Alexander swung at Jacks head and missed by inches as Jack back flipped kicking Alex in the face in his rotation and landed squarely on a table knocking over the glass vials and beakers on top. Alex kicked the table out from under Jack's feet and Jack vented energy from the boots to propel him over Alex's head landing behind him. Jack kicked out the backs of the giants knees dropping him to the ground and was about to land another blow to the back of Alex's head when something hard and heavy hit Jack from behind making him stumble forward, Alex used this distraction to reach around and back hand him into a wall. Jack got to his knees as Ian Edwards came at him with a metal pipe he had taken from the support beams of the stage used to showcase Dillon and Darlene. Ice swung down with the pipe and Jack disarmed him and threw it at a quickly advancing Alex, Jack propelled the pipe faster with a burst of Mechorg energy and the pipe pierced through Alex's right shoulder temporarily slowing him. Jack dodged some punches from Ice each fist releasing gold Mechorgs that would stick to the wall behind Jack turning it into brittle gold cement. Ice widened his stance as he went for a powerful kick and Jack slid in between his legs, jumped up with a flying elbow and slammed Ice in the back of his head. Ice became disoriented and rubbed the back of his head; Jack studied the familiar Mechorg collar design and found the weak points in the collars hinges. Jack vented energy blowing a fast approaching Alex back and went for Ice's collar with both hands to begin prying it open. Ice snarled and cursed as he reached back and grabbed Jack by the helmet with both hands, the slimy black Mechorg's engulfed his helmet and melted it away down to the collar. Jack shook his head violently as the black bugs that lingered still continued eating away at his now exposed flesh but finally broke the hinges loose on Ian's collar. Jack powerfully whipped Ice around by the collar and ripped it off his neck and Ice sailed through the air out of the door of the laboratory leaving a slimy trail of black and gold Mechorgs that, without the collar attached to him, were shedding off his body. Ice landed with a thud outside the door and lay unconscious from the impact; Alexander had gotten back to his feet and was now once again charging. Jack saw the attack and swung around with Ice's collar still spewing gold and black Mechorgs from the damaged containment holsters, the Mechorgs splattered on Alex's body. The gold Mechorgs began to turn Alex's muscular deformed skin into a living statue and the black ones ate away at his tuff flesh. Alex roared but continued his charge Jack focused on the parts of Alex's body covered in the gold Mechorgs and strategically struck them exploding parts of his left hip and thigh into tiny golden chunks. Alex lost his balance and fell to the floor as the Mechorgs began to die off without a host to operate them and dripped to the ground in a lifeless dull grey heap. Jack looked at the door and darted to it as fast as he could but they closed suddenly and while Jack slammed his fists against it and tried to pry it open an intercom system clicked on and the General's voice could be heard through the loud speakers.

General- "I should have known you wouldn't go down easy, you're a very impressive specimen Jack I always knew you had greatness in you, but let's see how you stack up against those who were not as lucky with the IAS experiment as you were."

Jack searched the room for another exit but could find none but what he did find was a Plexiglas prison, a prison whose doors opened slowly and three hulking soldiers busted through and violently took Jack to the floor. The mutant IAS10 overdosed soldiers began to beat, kick and claw Jack on the ground while Jack did his best to guard his exposed face. The intercom clicked back on and the General addressed a now healing Alexander Menstrength whose skin was slowly growing back over bone and muscle in his hip and thigh.

General- "You should know Alex, I never intended for you to live after all this you are way too unstable and a major loose end."

Alexander cursed the Generals voice and threw a table at the intercom speaker bursting it into pieces making the electricity arc in the air. One of the enraged soldiers noticed Alex's presence and redirected his destructive path towards him; the soldier jumped on Alex's back and began sinking his teeth into the pink meaty muscle ripping through Alex's overgrown arms. Alex backed himself into a wall and slammed the mutant soldier against it but the SFB unit wouldn't let loose and continued ripping pieces of Alex's muscle and flesh off his arm with his teeth than moved up to the pulsing arteries in his neck causing blood to squirt all over the walls. Jack and Alex were outmatched by these crazed military trained mutant killing machines but Jack wasn't going to go out without a fight, he had one more trick up his sleeve. Jack ignored the vibrating feeling building up along his body as the Mechorg's begged for him to vent their pent up energy, finally it got to the point where the Mechorg energy began to put Jack's body into a seizure adding to the immense pain and damage he was already receiving from the mutant SFB units but still Jack held back from venting. One soldier pulled out a blade from his pocket and was about to swing down when the overcharged Mechorg's screamed and vented a powerful cloud of energy that radiated from the entire suit just as it had done on Peggy the pig in Michael's demonstration. The two SFB units' attacking Jack, the soldier on Alex's back and Alex himself were violently thrown against the walls of the lab as the cloud of energy decimated everything in its path. Jack slowly got to his feet and surveyed the damage and noticed the door leading to the hallway to the general's office had been blown open. Jack began to move towards it when he noticed the one still living mutant SFB unit was standing over Alex stabbing him with a knife. Jack looked at the door than back at the frightened deformed face of Alexander Menstrength reaching out to Jack for help. Jack cursed himself, ran towards the mutant soldier and vented energy to blow him off Alex. Alex rolled over onto his stomach and started pushing himself up. The mutant soldier darted at Jack with the blade and knocked him to the floor, Jack struggled holding the soldiers arms back with both hands as the soldier snarled and drooled blood trying to dig the knife into Jack's eye. Suddenly the soldier was ripped off Jack and thrown into debris pilled in a corner of the room from Jack's energy blast. Alexander Menstrength stood over Jack and a weakened Jack Canner closed his eyes waiting for the end but for some reason it didn't come. Jack opened his eyes again and saw Alex walking away towards the SFB unit trying to get to his feet under buried rubble; Alex stopped for a moment then turned his head to look at Jack.

Alex- "I'll take care of him, you go get that prick."

Jack nodded and started for the door when Alex yelled one more thing before he exited.

Alex-"Canner, this isn't over we'll finish this later."

Jack nodded again and exited the door taking a moment to stand over Ice who was beginning to come to, Jack slugged Ice in the face one more time knocking him back into unconsciousness before continuing down the hallway into the General's office. Jack frantically searched the office looking for Caldwell but all he found was an empty wooden box inside was a foam outline of something circular. Jack threw the box aside and continued his search until he noticed one of Caldwell's book cases was slightly askew. Jack studied it further and saw light coming from behind it so he pushed the bookcase over and behind he found a staircase leading down. Jack cautiously walked down the stairs into an underground bunker containing MRE's, guns, water and other essentials for a military man seeking shelter from a disaster or one who was going into hiding. Sitting with his back to Jack in a chair nonchalantly eating a roast beef MRE was Caldwell, Jack crept closer trying to sneak up on the General but the experienced war veteran knew when he had company.

General- "I hope you don't mind if I get a bite to eat Jack, I figure only one of us is going to survive this and if it's not me I'd like to go out with a full stomach."

Jack presented both his fists and placed his thumbs on the pressure switches for both vent gloves.

Jack- "Sorry Harvey, I've got to speed this up I've got better things to do."

The General stood up but remained completely still and placed his fork down on the table

General-"Very well than, let's get this over with."

Jack vented the energy from his gloves and the cloud struck Caldwell in the back, the cloud burst the General's camouflage jacket into pieces revealing a Mechorg containment collar and a dark blue Hero suit that sucked up the excess Mechorg energy into it, Caldwell turned around and smiled.

General- "Your suits overrated Jack, while yours is inefficiently releasing energy mine…."

The General presented his hands and threw a bolt of high powered condensed energy at Jack sending him head over heels against a rack of water bottles.

General- "Mine, absorbs it."

Jack shakily got to his knees and dodged another bolt of the Generals energy that he had absorbed from Jack's vent gloves. Jack crouched behind a barrel of oil and prayed for the IAS9 to work faster in healing his wounds but Caldwell was not going to just wait around for Jack, Caldwell expelled energy towards the barrel were Jack was hiding exploding it making the oil splatter the bunker walls. Caldwell rounded the corner expecting to find a badly beaten Jack but to his surprise there was nothing there. Jack had ran around the racks of goods and came full circle behind the General coming up for a strike but the General saw Jack's movement and swung back with a closed fist. Caldwell struck Jack in the face and produced more acquired energy sending Jack flying backwards over the General's table and onto the floor. Jack slowly crawled towards another row of stacked up water bottles attempting to find some cover. Meanwhile the General grabbed his fork from the floor where it had fallen and shoved it into a nearby light socket. The electricity coursed its way from the socket through the suit and the General absorbed it. Caldwell turned towards Jack who had just found shelter behind a pallet of water bottles and directed a stream of electricity from his fingertips to Jacks bruised and bloody body propped against water pallets. Jack groaned and ground his teeth as the electricity began to melt away his Hero suit and seer his skin from the heat, the Mechorgs wailed in pain as they died off and fell in a dead grey goop on the floor.

General- "I don't need you alive to harvest your blood Jack now die you pathetic maggot."

Jack struggled to stay conscious as he thought hard for anyway out of this mess than noticed once again the bottled water stacked on the pallets. Jack took a step back behind the pallets and growled at General Caldwell.

Jack- "Absorb this asshole!"

Jack vented the last of the Mechorg's dying energy exploding the water bottles sending a wave of liquid in the Generals direction. The wave engulfed Caldwell and his own electricity he produced electrocuted him as he shook violently until he collapsed to the floor, the blue Mechorg's slowly crawled off his dead flesh. Jack crawled towards the General's body and rolled him over, Harvey Caldwell's eyes were opened wide but the life had drained from them. Jack rose to his feet and held his head high in victory but he didn't even have a chance to celebrate when he heard a loud crash and roars from upstairs. Jack shuffled up the stairs as fast as his damaged body could move him and continued back down the hall, past a still unconscious Ian Edwards and into the Lab. The lab was in worse condition than when he had left it, light fixtures were busted and glass was thrown everywhere, Jack searched the dimly lit room for Alex calling out his name as he waded through the debris. Jack followed a trail of dark red blood that lead into the containment Plexiglas prison for the SFB units and stopped at the entrance when he heard a groan. Jack considered just leaving, even if it was Alex who was still alive he would most likely want to kill Jack anyways. Jack heard the groan again and prayed for the best as he walked in and found a bloody barely alive Alex Menstrength lying by a dead mutant SFB unit whose head had been smashed in. Alex had lost too much blood and the IAS10 that left with it couldn't heal his injuries, Jack searched Alex's pockets and found two crushed IAS10 pills in an envelope. He held them by Alex's mouth but Alex closed his lips and shook his head.

Alexander- "I'm a fucking monster Jack, Please just let me die as a human…. I'm sorry for all of this…I'm sorry."

Jack held Alex's hand and reassured him everything was going to be ok as Alex's eyes grew heavy and closed. Jack let out a sigh and went back for the exit but the Plexiglas door slide shut in his face. Jack was growing tired of these doors slamming shut and beat it weakly with his tired fist. From the corner of the prison cube Jack could see out the exit door and what he saw sent a chill down his back, Darlene Rose pistol whipped Ian Edwards mercilessly in the head as he begged for mercy. Jack banged on the glass and yelled at Darlene to stop, Darlene pressed the gun against Ian's head then turned to look at Jack.

Darlene- "Still wasn't completely honest with you hun, see my dad wasn't just undercover in the Howler's he rose to the top and lead them. That is until this piece of shit killed him in cold blood to run things; the Howlers knew my dad was a cop in fact that was an advantage for them made it easier to avoid getting caught. My dad gave them information and they helped move him up the ranks. He worked twenty two years on the force and had shit to show for it and in order to put food on the table to feed me he ran the Howlers. I should be in charge not this dirt bag, I'm sorry to trick you baby but you were the only one who could hand Ice over to me."

Jack- "All this time you were using me! Why are you doing this?"

Darlene- "I'm my father's daughter Jack, it's tough times these days and a girls got to pay her bills you know."

Darlene pistol whipped Ian in the head once more and his body limply slid down the wall onto the floor, Darlene turned and walked into the lab and placed her hand on the outside of Jacks Plexiglas prison. Jack placed his hand on hers through the barrier and their eyes met.

Jack- "You don't have to do this Darlene."

Darlene- "Everything we had was real for me Jack, forget this Hero thing trust me as hard as you try it won't make a difference there will always be horrible people in this world . Let's run the Howlers you and I, we can still be together. Imagine the two of us as a team we would be unstoppable and rich we'd be capable of anything."

Jack couldn't believe this beautiful woman was capable of such depravity and wicked thoughts; he removed his hand from the glass and shook his head.

Jack- "No Darlene… No I will stop you."

Darlene- "I figured you'd say that, it was worth a shot though but I can't let you get in my way…goodbye Jack."

Darlene kissed the glass leaving a lip imprint and walked back towards a badly beaten Ian Chatman Edwards still slumped on the floor. Darlene picked Ice up by the collar of his tattered shirt and jabbed the gun to his head once again.

Darlene- "This is for my dad you son of a bitch."

Darlene pulled the trigger and Ian Edwards's brains splattered the wall, Jack yelled out to Darlene who ignored him and walked back into the rear portion of the lab. Jack slumped to the floor weakly and continued beating on the glass screaming in anger and sadness from this betrayal. Darlene rummaged through the clutter and found what she was looking for, the inhaler devices she had seen the General holding earlier. Darlene gathered as many as she could and placed them in a duffel bag than walked out of sight leaving Jack alone and trapped. Jack felt his strength dwindling from the loss of blood and considered just lying there waiting to die like Alexander had done, he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to wander. Images of the good he had done for the city ran through it than the smiling angelic face of his betrayer Darlene Rose. Jack's eyes quickly opened and he ground his teeth in anger as he crawled back to the body of Alex Menstrength and poured the powdered IAS10 down his throat. Within moments Jack's strength had returned two folds and with the help of his rage Jack slammed against the wall of the prison and it cracked as it weakened. Darlene Rose gathered more equipment and supplies from the General's stash and stealth fully made her way the outside of the base using a secret exit in the Generals bunker. Darlene used the Generals keys she had stolen from his desk and turned the ignition on his personal truck parked in the back lot of the facility. Darlene drove until she reached a rundown hotel in the outskirts of town and she made her way into the lobby. She remembered her father visiting this place often when she was a child and her research showed that this was a known Howler hideout. Darlene walked up to the lobby desk and rang the bell, a strung out looking man walked out from the office and rudely asked what she wanted.

Darlene- "I'm looking for the Howlers"

A man crept up behind her and placed one hand on her hip the other on her shoulder.

Man- "Whose asking honey?"

Darlene grabbed the man's wrist off her shoulder, rotated it and slammed his head onto the lobby desk. The man's cowboy hat fell off and the Cowboy from the comedy clubs face winced in pain as Darlene put more pressure on his shoulder.

Darlene- "My name's Darlene Rose, my father was Robert Rose and I'm taking over the family business."

Cowboy- "You're one stupid bitch aren't you Ice is going to kill you for even mentioning any of this shit."

Darlene-"Ice is dead…I killed him."

Darlene released the cowboy from his arm lock and slammed an inhaler of IAS10 near his face; the Cowboy picked it up and examined it.

Cowboy- "What the hell is this?"

Darlene- "That's our new product; this will make us more money than we know what to do with."

Cowboy- "Won't make a difference the Hero got half our boys landed in the pen."

Darlene smiled and took a hit of the inhaler than slammed a hole in the hard wood desk.

Darlene- "You let me worry about the Hero."

Jack landed behind the dumpster of Menstrength Inc and checked to see if there was anyone around, once he was clear he retracted the remainder of the Mechorg's into the collar and slid through the locked gate. He ripped open the exit door to the back stairwell and ran up to the twelfth floor to Michael Clyde's office and knocked on the door, Michael allowed him in and examined his tattered clothes from the battle.

Michael- "Jack you can't be showing up on property like that it will raise too many questions."  
Jack- "Yeah it's nice to see you too and don't worry I'm not dead but we have a huge problem."

Michael pointed to the muted TV in the corner of the room and turned up the volume.

Michael- "I know we do."

Jack watched and listened as a News flash danced across the screen and then Darlene Rose was shown holding a press conference.

Darlene- "I've gathered you all here today to inform you that earlier the Hero held not only me hostage but an army General, a civilian and three escaped inmates from the Safe Harbor mental asylum in a secret military base. Hero killed all three inmates and General Harvey Caldwell and I narrowly escaped."

Jack collapsed in an arm chair as his face was projected on the television screen for the whole world to see.

Darlene- "This man, Jack Canner, I know now to be Hero he killed four men mentioned before and left the civilian badly beaten, that civilian is in critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital all because of some conspiracy theory he believed involved the military and the police department. If you see Jack Canner do not approach him he should be considered armed and extremely dangerous if seen please contact your local law enforcement immediately."

Michael turned off the TV and glared at Jack

Michael- "You involved the wrong person Jack you lost sight of what you were doing here and now we're both going down."

Michael pointed to the security monitor on his desk and Jack could see dozens of SWAT members charging through the lobby up the stairs and into the elevator.

Michael- "I'll hold them off as long as I can you go downstairs and grab as much equipment as you can and run get as far away as possible it's not safe for you here."

Jacks head was flooded with thoughts and emotions so much so that he couldn't even move from his spot as he watched the SWAT team get closer and closer to Michael's office.

Michael- "JACK GO NOW!" Michael yelled breaking Jack out of his trance.

Jack tore the mirror off the wall and hailed the elevator, the elevator doors opened and Jack stepped inside while Michael nodded goodbye and placed the mirror back over the wall just as the SWAT team kicked open the door to his office. As the elevator descended Jack could hear the excited voices of the SWAT members ordering Michael around.

SWAT member- "Put your hands on your head, where's Jack Canner?"

Michael- "I have no idea who you're talking about."

SWAT member- "Dr. Michael Clyde you're under arrest for suspicion of harboring a fugitive."

The elevator made it to the sub lab and jack ignored the scientists and sterile suits and ran straight to the safe. He typed in the code and filled a bag full of IAS9 and found one container of Mechorgs left to fill his collar. Jack stormed past more surprised scientists and noticed the elevator was going back up to Michael's office, Jack ran to the door leading out to the sub basement and tried to open it but it required his key card. Jack kicked the door in and ran down the stairs to the sub basement than through the door that lead to another stairwell. Jack remembered this route fondly from the battle with Alex Menstrength and knew that it would lead to a hallway that ran either to the lobby or main lab. Jack attached the last vial of Mechorgs into the containment collar and snapped the collar around his neck than engaged it while he ran up the stairs. He cracked open the door at the top of the stairs and peered outside, he could see two SWAT members searching the hallway and an army of cops in the lobby. Jack waited till the SWAT members had their backs turned away from the door than sprinted down the hall the SWAT members close on his heels. Jack ducked into a janitor's closet and listened to the footsteps of the SWAT members pass by than they both stopped as they listened to their radio traffic.

Dispatcher- "Units be advised Canner's roommate is alive but critical at the St. Mary's hospital we need units to respond code 2."

Jacks heart leapt in his chest somehow Dillon was still alive, he needed to see him before he skipped town but that's where the cops were expecting him to go still he had to try. Jack sprang from the closet and disarmed the two SWAT members who unloaded rounds into his newly rebuild Mechorg suit. Jack continued running down the hallway until he reached a dead end and turned around to meet six more armed cops running down the hallway after him. Jack turned to the wall and blasted through with Mechorg energy until he was outside, he kept running from gun shots and officers until he reached the perimeter of Menstrength and hopped the fence. Jack ran until he reached a gas station nearby, retracted the Mechorgs and jumped inside a running car. He drove as fast as he could without causing suspicion to St Mary's hospital than ditched the car and searched for a way in knowing the hospital was crawling with cops. Jack grabbed a baseball hat from the dashboard of his stolen car and wore it low to cover his face than made his way to a pay phone. Jack dialed the number to the hospital and got the room's number to his critical friend than examined the hospital building again for a way in. Jack noticed a window washer in a scaffold cart at about the sixth floor where Dillon's room was. Jack engaged the Hero suit and propelled himself up to the cart and excused himself to the terrified window washer before kicking in a window to the sixth floor and rolled into a patient's room. He darted out the door and ran till he found the Intensive Care Unit and plowed through two cops guarding the room and finally found his badly injured friend being examined by a startled doctor.

Doctor- "Get out of here, Help, Help!"

Jack- "I'm not here to hurt anyone doc, please what's wrong with him?"

Doctor- "The bullet missed vital parts of his brain by millimeters and went through his cheek, he'll have some memory loss and he'll be a quadriplegic all his life but he'll live."

Jack- "Thank you so much" Jack said as he knelt by Dillon's bedside and grabbed his friend's hand.

Dillon's eyes fluttered open enough for him to squint through and he weakly ripped his hand away from Jack's than Dillon fell back into unconsciousness. Tears dripped from Jack's eyes onto Dillon's bed sheets and he got to his feet and apologized. The door sprang open and two more cops entered the room guns pointed at Jack's back, Jack took one more look at his paralyzed friend then jumped through the window and landed on top of an approaching ambulance. Jack rolled off the ambulance and once again began running away from more arriving police units, Jack was beginning to get use to all this fleeing and it was a good thing because now he was being hunted, in the public's eyes he was the villian guy now.

SEASON 2

Ordinary Hero

Episode one

"Escape"

Two months later in Tijuana Mexico an unshaven, dirty Dr. Joseph Mixer sat at the table of a high stakes poker game. Joseph was at his wits end, he had been running from the law ever since he was black mailed by Alexander Menstrength into giving him a never-ending supply of IAS9 & 10. Michael Clyde discovered he was illegally taking product out of Menstrength by checking his key card log ins, his log ins were being used at the IAS drug safe far more than usual. Michael called Joseph in for questioning one day and after that day Joseph emptied his accounts and fled the country. Now having to live on the run for months Dr. Mixer was completely out of money hence why he was in his current situation, playing cards with shady Cartel members. Joseph had done some side jobs with the Cartel working in their labs making cocaine but the pay was miniscule but working with them gave him an in into this card game that the Cartel leaders held on a monthly basis. Joseph examined his hand and saw that he had three of a kind, he examined the faces of his powerful competitors and couldn't read a single ones face, they had no tells at all, Joseph was in over his head. Joseph decided to try his hand and with a last desperate attempt raised the pot with the last of his money.

Dr. Joseph Mixer- "I'll raise one hundred."

The Cartel members laughed at the small sum of money the doctor had brought to the table and after the snickering died out Marcus Esperanza a higher up placed more money on the table.

Marcus Esperanza- "Unlike these pendejos doctor I respect your bet, it takes a lot of guts to put everything you have on the table. I'll see your one hundred and raise you ten thousand."

Joseph's heart sank as he realized that exact bet was what he owed Esperanza for a failed attempt at being a mule and trying to smuggle his drugs over the Mexican border. Joseph was caught and imprisoned but before the Fedorales could process him Marcus bailed him out and now Joseph owed big time.

The other Cartel members knew this was a personal wager and folded out, Joseph gently placed his cards on the table and the men around the table roared and applauded from such a great hand. Marcus placed his cards upside down on the table and applauded as well.

Marcus Esperanza- "Muy Bueno Joseph, with that hand you could be free from your debt and live your life free and clear….. However."

Marcus flipped his cards over and slammed them on the table, a full house. Joseph jumped out of his chair and instinctively ran for the door but two Cartel members tackled him to the floor, rolled him over on his back and pinned his arms to the ground. Marcus stood over Joseph and pulled a spring loaded knife from his pocket and flipped it open, than knelt down at the doctors side.

Marcus- "I like you Joseph you're a bold gringo but unfortunately I've got to treat all my workers on the same level. So you must understand I can't let you just walk out of her without getting me my money, but you don't have any money do you?"

Joseph gritted his teeth and kept quiet; Marcus backhanded Joseph in the face and continued his rant.

Marcus- "You don't have shit do you? DO YOU? So how do I resolve this problem? See you're one of my best workers Joseph so that means losing a couple fingers won't hold you back too much right?

Marcus took his blade and began digging it into the doctor's pinky finger but the door to the room exploded open with a sudden burst of energy knocking the Cartel members to their knees. Marcus stood and his eyes went wide as a floating skull entered the room and locked eyes with Marcus. Two Cartel members jumped back to their feet and reached for their guns tucked in their pant waists but the floating skull produced more energy knocking them back to the floor. The two men scattered screaming "ES EL DIABLO" but Marcus wasn't convinced and he pointed his gun at the menacing skull.

Marcus- Puta Diablo."

Marcus began firing wildly at the skull and the bullets collided revealing the wavy outline of a man's body than a small stream of energy vented from the skulls neck and a torso, arms and legs emerged covered in a dark grey suit of armor. The Diablo ran through the bullet storm and grabbed Marcus by his throat and slammed him to the ground killing him on impact, then grabbed the automatic rifle from his hands and returned fire. The Diablo took more bullets to his skin tight armor and bits of the grey suit began to flake off revealing human skin underneath. Diablo ducked behind a desk and continued to take out the Cartel members until he ran out of bullets and was forced to go one on one with the final two. Diablo threw his empty rifle at one Cartel member grazing him causing a distraction that Diablo used to close the distance between that man and engage him head on. He grabbed the man's hand holding his pistol and broke it till the gun was pointing at the man's chest, Diablo pulled the trigger and a bullet seared through the cartel members heart. Diablo turned to deal with the final cartel member but in the distraction from the hand to hand combat the cartel member had grabbed a grenade launcher from the armory in the room next door and fired a grenade round at Diablo connecting with his stomach. Diablo flew against the wall and landed in a heap and when the smoke settled the last remaining cartel member could see the body of a weakened white man still covered in patches of the grey armor. The cartel member crept closer and snickered than pointed the barrel of his pistol at this not so unstoppable man they had all assumed was the devil. The man's eyes snapped open from underneath the tattered, torn skull mask he was wearing and he grabbed the cartel member by the wrist and redirected his fire. The Cartel member fired wildly at the floor until he had emptied his magazine and the skull faced man grabbed a piece of metal rebar from the broken bricks at his side and shoved it through the cartel member's chest. The Cartel member fell to the floor his body still propped up from the piece of metal and the man slowly limped over to Joseph Mixer who was hiding behind the overturned poker table. The skull faced man stared at Joseph and through a terrified quivering voice Joseph spoke to the strange man.

Joseph- "What…. What do you want from me?"

The skull face man ripped the remainder of his mask off his face and Jack Canner met the eyes of the terrified scientist.

Jack - "My name is Jack Canner and I need your help."

Jack and Joseph stepped into the door to the dilapidated two bedroom shack that Joseph called home. Jack took off his tattered cloak covering his damaged Hero suit and sat down on the nearest chair, he retracted the blotchy batch of Mechorgs back into the collar the few remaining mechanical bugs that lined the inside of containment unit were all that was left of Jack's armor. Joseph wasted no time in bombarding Jack with questions.

Joseph- "Ok, those are Mechorg's that's Dr. Clyde's High energy remote battle suit, where did you get that tech and what the hell is going on?"

Jack sighed wiped the dried blood from his forehead and began to explain.

Jack- "Menstrength pharmaceuticals invented this drug, this Immune Advancement serum batch 9 or IAS9…."

Joseph- "I know what IAS9 is I helped invent the stuff what the hell does that have to do with you?"

Jack- "Well I'd get to that if you shut your trap….Anyways you guys made IAS9 to help people fight off diseases right? Well I'm sure you guys realized it did more for a healthy person than a sick one. Military heard about this and decided to fund you guys and since Menstrength's stock was in the tanks who were they to say no. So about the time you leave the country, they pick my dumbass out of a line up because of some bank robbery I miraculously thwarted and they make me the test subject for a little show and tell for the military."

Joseph- "Wait, you mean to tell me that they continued testing IAS9 on healthy subjects even after voted against it?"

Jack- "What do you mean, does it do damage to a health guy?"

Joseph- "No, something far worse it makes them incredibly strong, fast and smart far beyond any normal person and these changes sometime lead to mental break downs. You could imagine having a man able to lift a Volkswagen Beetle over his head with a genius IQ would be somewhat of a problem. "

Jack- "Yeah, I kind of noticed that for a while now, but it can also turn so not so healthy people into big powerful monsters too."

Joseph-"Are you talking about Alexander?"

Jack- "Yeah Doc you got him addicted and on the fast track to becoming a roided out Quasimodo."

Joseph- "Jesus, I told him it was dangerous… I told him he needed to stop. You've got to know I had no idea he would get so bad, he had lymphoma I assumed that worst case scenario the overdose would just work towards curing his cancer or eventually kill him. When Dr. Clyde pulled me aside and asked why I was going into the IAS vault so often I knew that they were on to me and I left. I couldn't stop…. Alex…. He… Forget it."

Jack- "I know he black mailed you Doc, I know you're orientation and the situation you were in and hey no judgment here, none of my business just don't hit on me."

Joseph smirked uncomfortably and continued.

Joseph- "So what is it you want from me?"

Jack- "Well although I disagree with the way you handled the whole Alex situation you're the only one who can help me. As you can see my Hero suits done and I'm down to my last two IAS9 pills and I'm going to need both to survive what I'm planning on doing."

Joseph- "Why don't you just get more from Menstrength?"

Jack shook his head, he felt like recapping on everything was a waste of his time but news from the US didn't spread over here so he decided to continue to update the doctor.

Jack- "I'm a fugitive too Dr. Mixer, after the Military demonstration myself and Dr. Clyde decided to just sit around like an everyday Joe Smoe would be a waste of my abilities. So I began helping the city as much as I could using the IAS9 and Hero suit but I made enemies, enemies that pinned a crime on me and put me to the top of the most wanted list, enemies that ran me out of the country."

Joseph- "Robert Menstrength has some powerful connections you should talk to him; he can help you more than I can."

Jack- "Roberts dead….Alex killed him."

Joseph fell backwards into his couch and sank deep into the cushions fighting back nausea and the feeling to faint.

Joseph- "This was all my fault….O my God, Alex is he still…?"

Jack- "He's dead too, in the end he realized what he had done and he died a man. I'll have to catch you up later Doc I'm sure the Cartel's going to go ape shit when the find out their number ones head just got caved in and you're not in the body count."

Joseph- "Jesus Christ you're right their going to find me and kill me, what the fuck have you done?"

Jack- "No one's going to touch you Doc; I can protect you if you help me."

Joseph- "Guess I have no choice in the matter, the cartel took over a lab in a school that's where they make their product. I've worked there on their drugs before and don't ask me how but the equipment in that place is pretty advanced, that's where I need to go."

Jack nodded his head and put his cloak back on than checked outside the door to see if anyone was waiting or following them. The coast was clear so both men headed out and took as many back alleys as they could till they reached the old school that was now a drug front for the Cartel. Two armed guards stood watch at the gate and Jack nimbly snuck up behind them and knocked them both unconscious. Jack grabbed the two rifles and handed one over to Joseph, Joseph looked down at the weapon and the weight of the situation finally hit him and he shook his head and thrust the weapon back into Jack's hands.

Joseph- "I can't do this I've never fired a gun in my life we don't even know how many guys are in their there's got to be another way."

Jack- "You said this was the place to rebuild the suit and produce my meds Mixer and were not leaving till you do just that. Stay behind me, take cover if there's too many and don't worry, I've been through worse."

Jack gave Joseph a reassuring nod and Joseph braced himself behind Jack as he kicked open the gates and immediately stepped into an army of armed Cartel members. The Members stood still surprised these two unassuming men had made it past their first line of defense at the gate and were now standing there wanting to take on a dozen more.

Jack- "Doc remember that thing I said about you taking cover if there were too many… yeah go ahead and do that."

Joseph didn't have to hear that twice and he scrambled and hid behind a parked Jeep in the yard as shots erupted breaking the silence of the still evening. As cries of pain rang out in between gunshots Joseph tried to peek his head out to see how Jack was doing but realized his mistake as a bullet whizzed by his hiding spot missing his head by inches. Joseph forced himself to keep his eyes open as the gut wrenching screams continued over the hail of gunfire some of which came from Jack Canner. Joseph studied his rifle realizing that Jack may not come out of this alive and he may need to fight his way out of this alone. Joseph noticed the safety switch on the gun and remembered what he heard from the movies about that needing to be off to fire, what Joseph couldn't remember was how to determine if the switch was off or not. A grenade exploded near by causing Joseph to lose concentration but he fought the deafening noises both from the battle and in his head and put all of his attentions on figuring out the safety switch on the rifle. The tire on the Jeep he was hiding behind wheezed out its air as a stray bullet hit it's inside sidewall and Joseph noticed the shadow of a man creeping up on his hiding spot. Joseph continued flipping the switch up and down from the red circle to the white and he recalled something he had heard again in the movies, a quote that told the character the firing position of the safety switch, something simple that rhymed. The shadow grew closer and the phrase snapped into Joseph's head RED YOU'RE DEAD, Joseph switched the switch to show the red dot and pointed his rifle just as one of the Cartel members rounded the corner attempting to surprise him. Joseph pulled the trigger and shot wildly at the member clipping him in the shoulder and chest, the man dropped to the floor and weakly crawled for his gun but Joseph aimed again and finished him off. Joseph's entire body shook with adrenaline and fear as he just realized he killed a man than he slowed his heart rate and listened intently as the gunshots slowed, than died off completely. Joseph held his gun tight and listened to the sound of approaching footsteps coming towards him from the opposite end of the Jeep and once the man was in range Joseph sprang up and pointed his weapon, Jack was there to grab the barrel of the gun and point it away from his chest.

Jack-"Woo, slow down there Rambo, same team same team."

Joseph let out a sigh of relief and both him and Jack fell against the side of the Jeep and sunk to the floor. Joseph looked to his left and noticed Jack pulling bullets from his shoulder and flicking them on the floor, Joseph surveyed his partners damage and saw countless cuts and holes from bullets and scrap metal from the grenades. Bloody and exhausted Jack pulled a tiny envelope from his pocket and swallowed one of the last two IAS9 pills inside, within moments Jacks body began to heal itself. Joseph's mouth hung open from the site, he had never seen the true potential of the IAS9 drug and so far he was impressed. Jack handed the last remaining pill in the envelope to the doctor and together they made their way into the building, down the halls of the abandoned school and into the lab. Dr. Mixer wasn't joking about the advanced lab, machines and equipment littered the walls of the room along with a bunch of other high tech gadgets Jack couldn't make heads or tails of. Dr. Joseph Mixer clapped his hands and rubbed them together a sign of his excitement to get back to work and Jack decided to give him some space as he continued browsing about the lab. Jack rummaged through a couple more boxes filled with bundles of cocaine before he fell upon a box that made his blood boil. On the cover of a wooden crate a sticker of a zombie coyote howling at a blood red moon stared back at Jack, the insignia of the notorious gang the Howlers lead by his ex lover/ betrayer Darlene Rose.

Jack- "HOWLERS!"

Jack growled as he kicked the wooden crate over causing it to break open and spill its contents. Plastic inhalers covered the floor of the lab and Jack picked one up and examined it, he pulled off the cap to the inhaler, sprayed the vapor in the air and curiously sniffed the gas. Within seconds Jacks pupils dilated and the veins in his neck throbbed against his skin while a familiar tingling, powerful feeling engulfed his body the same thing he felt when he was introduced to the accelerant but this was something different. Jack sat down and focused on controlling this overwhelming feeling of power and rage he was experiencing as he rocked back and forth and the floor and screamed. Jack couldn't contain his emotions any longer; he wanted to hurt something, Jack grabbed another nearby crate with the Howler product sticker on it and threw it at the wall splintering the wood and revealing another new product the Howlers were working on. Futuristic guns that looked something like a double barrel shotgun and a phaser from Star Trek and there were lots of them. Jacks aggression started to dissipate just as Dr. Mixer walked in from the other room to check on the commotion.

Joseph- "What the hell is going on?"

Jack handed the doctor a gun and an inhaler without saying a word and Joseph walked back into the lab and began to study both.

Joseph- "Well the inhaler is a vaporized form of IAS10 fused with the accelerant, a way of the body to instantly absorb the drug. We were attempting a similar way of introducing the IAS9 into the bloodstream but the vapor form would burn off to quickly, took about five minutes if I recall correctly. The gun is packed with cartridges of over amplified Mechorgs, someone found a way to contain the bugs and use their energy as a weapon."

Jack- "Yeah it was initially Michael Clyde's idea a way to expel the pent up energy of the Mechorgs while using that energy as a weapon, it came in handy as Hero. You mean to tell me someone managed to put that firepower into a gun?"

Joseph- "Precisely and with this amount of energy the user could be extremely…."

Jack- "Deadly"

Jack interrupted full well knowing the Mechorg's power. Jack plopped onto a nearby stool and filled Dr. Mixer in about Darlene Rose and the Howlers while Joseph busily mixed things into beakers and dissembled the gun while he waited for the chemicals to mix.

Joseph- "So what you're telling me is that this drug and those weapons are in the hands of vicious street thugs lead by one of the most powerful members of the police force?"

Jack nodded his head

Joseph- "And you not only let the leader of this gang see your face but you also had a relationship with her?"

Jack nodded again

Joseph- "And I thought I was in deep shit, ok I'm done."

Joseph collected a handful of newly made IAS9 pills and placed them in a plastic container than handed the container to Jack. Jack placed the container in his pocket and watched the brilliant scientist attach a vial of Mechorgs to Jack's collar and fill the containment unit with fresh dark grey Mechanical organisms. Then Joseph handed Jack his vent boots and gloves, Jack took notice of some new items on the inner wrist portion of his gloves and Dr. Mixer saw his intrigue and explained their use.

Joseph- "I took the liberty of modifying your ventilation gloves; I took the dial from the Mechorg gun and installed it into the wiring. The gun was designed with this dial to be able to adjust the intensity and speed of shot on rifle itself."

Jack- "Plain English Doc"

Joseph- "Ok if you rotate the dial to the highest number the rifle will shoot an extremely powerful concentrated burst of energy but the time it takes for the rifle to acquire all that power from the Mechorg containment cartridge causes the rifle to shoot slower, you following me so far?"

Jack- "Yeah so what you're saying is turn this bad boy all the way up and it'll put out more stopping power but shoot slower, but what if I turn it down to a lower setting?"

Joseph- "The lower the setting the faster it will shoot because the rifle would need to gather less energy but it won't have as much of a kick, this same concept is now true with your vent gloves."

Jack slipped the gloves on his hands and gave the doctor thumbs up than noticed another small pressure switch under the dial.

Jack-"And this little guy?"

Joseph- "This I fell upon on accident when I dropped a rifle cartridge and it split open, whoever built these things built them real flimsy. Anyways when the cartridge cracked a beam of concentrated energy vented out consistently through the crack and the constant slow flow of energy managed to hold up a pencil that I placed over it, so it got me thinking. If this little bit of slowly vented consistent wave of energy could hold up a pencil imagine what a lot of this energy could do?"

Jack- "I guess you don't understand the term plain English."

Joseph- "If you switch the vent gloves over to this low output energy wave it will allow you to slow and sometimes stop objects some heavier than you can lift physically. But heads up since the suit is only allowing a small amount of energy to trickle out it will need to still vent and the objects you're holding or stopping will drop when the suit vents."

Jack-"Good to know any other little goodies I should be aware of?"

Joseph- "Just that if you use the low flow option with the trigger on the collar that does the emergency vent of the whole suit this wave of energy will surround the suit stopping objects from hitting you. Kind of like a force field but remember it's only temporary because the suit will vent and it will need to power up again."

Jack placed the collar around his neck and engaged the Mechorgs, feeling the tiny fully healed little bugs tickle his skin as they danced across his body brought a smile to his face. Jack hit the switch on the back of the collar to bring out his helmet but only the stump of the base left from when ICE burned it off ejected from the back of the collar.

Joseph- "Didn't get a chance to solidify another Mechorg helmet for you, how does one destroy a solid indestructible helmet anyways?"

Jack- "Just perks of the job Doc, you know without the helmet my cloaking feature is worth basically dick unless you want me to be a bobbing skull head again?"

Joseph- "I need more time and other equipment to solidify and mold the organisms; it's going to have to wait. Earlier today you said something about needing all of this to do something? Whatever it is sounded dangerous, care to elaborate?"

Jack smiled and motioned for the doctor to follow and the two exited the school, When they exited Jack turned around and stared at the outside of the lab building.

Jack- "Doc you said those cartridges were unstable right?"

Joseph- "Yeah why?"

Jack aimed clicked his dial on his new vent gloves to seven, the highest setting, and shot bolt after bolt of concentrated energy at the building till the wall collapsed and the debris crushed exposed rifle cartridges causing the Mechorgs inside to vent their energy in a massive explosion.

LATER THAT NIGHT….

A black van parks as close to the border fence as it can before a group of Mexican citizens piles out of the back door. The driver of the van gets out and directs the group to follow him as he leads them to the fence perimeter and pulls the bottom of the fence up for the group to crawl under it one at a time. The group walks on eggshells through the quiet night until one of the female immigrant's falls to the floor and cries out in pain. The coyote (the leader of the group) stops the remaining group and runs back to the woman's aid; he shines the flashlight on the fallen woman and sees her foot caught in a bear trap strategically placed on the floor. The coyote's eyes grow wide, he's seen this trap before, and he takes the light off the woman and frantically searches the empty desert before realizing his error that the flashlight calls more attention to him and his group. The coyote flicks off the flashlight just as bullet hits him in the chest and he collapses to the floor dead. The immigrants scream in terror and attempt to flee in opposite directions but the sound of approaching engines bare down on them and powerful lights pierce the dark night revealing two SUV's that corralled the terrified people, the SUV's read US BORDER PATROL. Two men jump out of one SUV with their guns drawn and two others jump out of the other barking orders in Spanish to the scared confused crowd. One border patrol agent kneels down and checks the pulse of the coyote and shakes his head than addresses his superior officer the name on his shirt reads J. Cervantes.

Border Agent- "Sir, that shot killed him you just said you were going to scare him."

J. Cervantes walks up to the body of the dead coyote and takes notice of his last expression on his face, a look of terror than Cervantes chuckles.

J. Cervantes- "Looks pretty scared to me rookie, don't worry about these animals anyways just a bunch of bloodsucking leeches thinking they can come into this country and steal everything for free."

Border Agent 2- "What do you want to do with the rest of them boss?"

J. Cervantes- "Well let's give them a choice Buckley."

J. Cervantes turns to the group and begins yelling at them in Spanish.

J. Cervantes- "Ladies and gentlemen my name is Officer John Cervantes and you are currently trespassing on my land. Although I could shoot each and every one of you and nobody would give two shits I'm a fair guy so I'll leave you with a decision to make. The ones who want to go back under that fence to their own country are free to go, the others who think they can make it in my beloved US are going to have to make it past me and I'll tell you how. Those who have the stones will get a ten second head start to lose me in this desert, any takers?"

The majority of the group ran back underneath the fence leaving only six people remaining to take Cervantes challenge. One man bravely stepped up and told the corrupt border agent his family was waiting and nothing would stop him. Cervantes chuckle and motioned the man to step outside the ring of SUVs.

J. Cervantes- "I admire your spirit buddy, but fair warning I didn't get the name Man Hunter for letting people get away from me. You ready… on your mark… get set…. Go!"

The brave man took off sprinting full speed into the dark desert and Cervantes began casually counting out loud. As he got closer to zero Cervantes grabbed a sniper rifle from the SUV, posted up and adjusted his night vision sight.

J. Cervantes-3…2…1…0 ready or not here I …."

BOOM one shot rang through the night and through the scope Cervantes confirmed the man was dead. Cervantes turned to the rest of the crowd who were now beginning to rethink retreating and addressed them again.

Jon Cervantes- "Ok, now that you really understand the game we're playing, who's next?"

A man dressed in a hooded cloak eagerly volunteered and stepped forward to the makeshift starting line the border agents had dug in the sand with their boots.

Jon Cervantes- "OK big man let's try your luck…ready…go!"

The man stood still by the line and waited patiently, the Border agents including Cervantes exchanged confused glances than began to taunt the man. Another hooded member of the group begged the man to run but the man still stood silent waiting out the countdown.

Jon Cervantes- "2….1… O man you're not that bright are you?"

Cervantes pointed his rifle down at the man's chest and fired; the bullet tore through the man's cloak but ricocheted off the man's body, blew through the windshield of the SUV and clamored around the interior. Cervantes and his men hit the floor and when the bullet settled they got to their feet and pulled their side arms from their holsters.

Jon Cervantes- "You think you're pretty funny huh asshole, let's see you do that again."

Cervantes and his men fired round after round at the man but the bullets bounced off him like he was made of rubber. The man tore off his cloak and Jack Canner stared down the baffled men in his new Hero suit that was radiating a wave of slow vented energy that blocked bullets. Jack ran to each of the Border Agents sides and before they knew if they were all disarmed, than Jack went for Cervantes before Jon made it to the SUV for another weapon. Jack grabbed Cervantes by the throat and lifted him off the ground just as his collar vented energy disabling the force field.

Jack- "Shooting innocent people to prove your point… O yeah, you're a big man all right. Joseph let's get out of here."

Jack threw the corrupt agent to the floor and began to walk away with Dr. Joseph Mixer in the direction of the US border, but Cervantes wasn't done yet he knew exactly who Jack Canner was and the bounty on his head was enough to put him into early retirement. Cervantes grabbed his rifle from the ground aimed and yelled.

Jon Cervantes- "Hey Hero!"

Cervantes fired and Jack spun around before the bullet hit, vented energy and sent the bullet flying back in the Border Agent's direction. Cervantes gasped in air as he realized the bullet was coming right at him and he didn't have enough time to jump out of the way. The bullet tore through Cervantes's bullet proof vest and ripped into his chest and out his back. The corrupt Border Patrol Agent lay in the sand in a pool of his own blood as his subordinates scrambled to stop the bleeding. Jack realized the bullet had connected and knew the whole agency would come down on his head once they broadcasted he was in the area.

Jack- "Doc we got to move fast."

Joseph- "I can't let them catch me Jack, I can't go to jail."

Jack- "No one's going anywhere Doc keep moving."

Jack pulled an exhausted Dr. Mixer through the desert till they found a brushy area and took cover from helicopters searching with infrared. Mixer told Jack that the suit keeps in body heat so they wouldn't be able to pick him up, but the doctor was a different story. Jack threw Joseph to the ground and lay on top of him as the helicopter did another pass seeming to pick something up. Jack grabbed a discarded plastic bag trapped in the bush and put it over his exposed head to block the rest of the heat from his body. The helicopter gave up the search of that area and took off; Jack rolled off the doctor and searched the area for more patrol but saw that they were all moving in the direction of Cervantes and his group. Jack picked the doctor up off the floor and continued running, almost home, but definitely not safe.

Episode 2

"Howlers"

Darlene Rose adjusted her tie in the mirror; she was in full police uniform and was ready for a big press conference. This conference was being held to commemorate her new position as lieutenant, a promotion that so many assumed she earned after her run in with the crazed vigilante. Jack Canner the vigilante that Rose had wrongly convicted of a crime that made him flee the country. Darlene smiled in the mirror made the last of her esthetic preparations and walked to the stage where she was greeted by the joyous uproar of her fans.

Darlene- "It is my pleasure to except this esteemed promotion; you people are the ones that made it happen. You are the real Hero's not some costumed clad vigilante who thinks he's above the law. You ordinary people who day in a day out stand vigilant in watching our fair city and allow us to do our jobs more effectively by calling us with insight on crimes in progress. I'd like to assure you the crime hotline that I personally acted on as sergeant will be focused on even more so as lieutenant. Your tips have not only aided us in the catching of small time criminals, you've brought us closer to catching Jack Canner and anyone he was involved with and for that I thank you. Let me assure you I have no tolerance for crime or anyone who thinks their above the law and I will bring that philosophy to my current position here for this great city, thank you for your time."

Darlene proudly walked off stage and ignored the buzzing of her cell phone as she shook the hands of her congratulators. Darlene's phone continued to buzz and she excused herself from a conversation with the mayor to step outside and take the call. Darlene stared at the caller ID on her phone and the phone registered it as an unknown number but Darlene knew exactly who it was, Trevor James the cowboy and second in command of the Howlers below Darlene.

Darlene- "What the hell do you want, I told you to never call me on this number."

Trevor- "I know boss but it's important."

Darlene- "So important you had to interrupt me on the biggest day of our lives, do you know what I can do now that I'm lieutenant?"

Trevor- "Yeah boss, but I swear I wouldn't call you unless we've got a situation… which we do."

Darlene- "I was talking to the mayor for Christ sake… ok what's this big problem that couldn't wait."

Trevor- "The Esperanza Cartel their shipment was destroyed, their wanting compensation because they said we were supposed to ensure the items were safe but it looks like one of the Mechorg cartridges ruptured. It caused a chain reaction and it took out the entire shipment including the inhalers, the school and their men."

Darlene- "That's impossible I cleared every single one of those rifles myself that entire shipment was done exactly to the specification from the plans I stole from Carl Bradley at the military base. Those goddamn bugs and cartridges I stole right off the Generals assembly line."

Trevor- "There's more, some of our connections in the Border Patrol say they spotted Canner last night. He put one of the Agents in the ICU and looks like he jumped the border back into the US."

Darlene- "FUCK! I knew he wouldn't run for long, that's not his style…. There was nothing wrong with that shipment, Canner must have found it and sabotaged the whole thing. I'm sure I can smooth this all over with Marcus I'll call him when I'm through."

Trevor- "Yeah… another thing Marcus is dead, George Esperanza is pissed and wants blood. Before one guy died he told George 'El Diablo' killed everyone he said he was invisible, like a ghost."

Darlene- "Invisible huh? Get George to call me, looks like we have a common enemy now."

Joseph stood watch as Jack slipped through the window of his old bedroom at Dillon Townes house; he quickly made his way through the room gathering clothes and anything else he thought was useful. He made his way into the bathroom and opened up the secret door in the back of the medicine cabinet were the remainder of his old stash of IAS9 was kept. Jack began to slide the secret door back into place when he heard a strange beeping noise coming from Dillon's old room; Jack crept cautiously to his bedroom door, opened it and peered out. No one was in the hallway so Jack slowly walked down till he was at the doorway of Dillon's room, what he saw made his heart sink. His best friend Dillon Towne was lying in a Hospital bed propped up with a tube down his throat attached to a ventilator and other life support machines, the beeping was coming from the EKG machine. A tear rolled down Jack's eyes as he took a step in the room but stopped dead when he saw Dillon's girlfriend Candice asleep in a chair by his bedside. Jack choked back more tears as he shuffled backwards and made his way back to his old room when something else caught his eye. The TV in Dillon's room was on but muted, the subtitles ran across the screen as Jack watched a press conference from earlier who he saw on the screen made his fist clench. Darlene Rose stood on stage and accepted her promotion if front of thousands as she lied about Jack and pretended she was worthy of such success. Jack swore under his breath and the sound was loud enough to stir Candice awake, before her eyes completely opened Jack had darted into his room and out the window. Candice jumped out of her chair and pursued the intruder but Jack was too fast. Candice stood in the middle of Jack's room and noticed the open empty drawers and the open medicine cabinet door in the restroom. She riffled through Jack's drawers before making her way into the bathroom and noticed the secret compartment in the back of the medicine cabinet. Candice rolled back her sleeves and reached into the hole, she pulled back three IAS9 pills left behind by Jack. Candice studied the purple pills and gritted her teeth in anger.

Candice- "You'll pay Jack; I'll make sure of it."

Jack ran back to the stolen car that Joseph Mixer was driving, jumped in and removed more broken glass from the passenger side door as the doctor drove. Jack had done some quick research online on how to successfully gain entry to and hotwire a car and with his IAS9 induced brain aiding his memory grabbing this car was a breeze.

Joseph- "Get everything ok?"

Jack held up the bag full of clothes, a spare Hero suit collar with a full containment unit and the remainder of the IAS9 tablets than threw it in the backseat.

Joseph- "Ok, So what's next?"

Jack- "Rose, we'll take care of all our problems if we get Rose."

Joseph- "And how do you intend to do that."

Jack grabbed the bag and pulled out the collar, than hit the switch to engage the helmet. The helmet snap out aggressively in Jack's hands and a smile crept across Jack's face.

Jack- "I've got an idea."

Darlene Rose quickly wrapped up her meet and greets at her commencement dinner and jumped into her car. She checked and erased the careless voicemails Trevor had left on her cell phone than began driving to a warehouse by the docks, the Howlers new meeting grounds. Once at the old fish warehouse Darlene parked ,checked to see if she had been followed and walked towards the large double door entrance to the warehouse. Two armed men peered out from the loft of the warehouse, confirmed it was Darlene than gave the ok for the men downstairs to grant her entry. As soon as Darlene made it through the door she was immediately hit with updates from her second in command.

Trevor- Ma'am we sure are in a pickle, George Esperanza's reder than a pig's behind about the faulty shipment and he's blaming your ties with Hero for getting his brother killed."

Darlene- "You can tell that son of a bitch there are no refunds in this business and Hero I will deal with personally."

George Esperanza stepped out of the shadows of the warehouse and addressed Darlene

George Esperanza- "Why don't you tell me yourself?"

George's men aimed their rifles at Darlene and her men on the ground and the Howlers in the loft aimed down at George's men, a standoff that could end in a real blood bath.

Darlene- "Now George, there's no need for all of this, we can work together to get Canner and I assure you the guns do work."

George- "I'm just supposed to take your word for it?"

Darlene motioned to one of her men to hand her a H.E. Rifle (High Energy rifle) and the Howler member loyally obeyed. As soon as the rifle was in her hands Darlene whipped the barrel around and shot the now unarmed Howler with a bolt of energy that punched a hole in his chest. The Howler fell to the floor as his lifeless body singed from the heat of the impact.

Darlene- "See, and that was only on the mid setting if you'd like I could demonstrate the full power of this rifle. I would sacrifice half my men to bring back your brother but unfortunately that will never happen and it would be a waste on both sides to fight, so let's deal with the real problem at hand."

George- "Hero" George growled out

Darlene- "Yep, he's the only one that can contest everything I said about what happened at the military base that day. If he does than all the careful evidence and crime scene tampering would all be for nothing. I want him gone; you want him dead it's a win/win for both of us."

Trevor ran up to Darlene's side and frantically tapped her on the shoulder, Darlene brushed off her second in command and attempted to continue her conversation with George but Trevor persisted on trying to get her attention.

Darlene- "What the hell is it, can't you see I'm busy here."

Trevor- "Boss, were in deep shit here."

Trevor held up a portable TV to Darlene's eyes

Darlene- "What the hell are you…"

Darlene cut her sentence short as a live broadcast showed on the screen of the TV, the screen showed the warehouse they were in and a live feed of both Howler's and Cartel member's standing there conversing. Darlene flipped through the channels and found the same broadcast on all of them, someone in the warehouse was taping the whole meeting; Darlene had been caught on live TV consorting with the Howler's and the Cartel. George and Darlene's men scattered and began searching the warehouse for the camera.

Darlene- "Spread out and find this prick but hurry we need to get out of here."

Trevor began to track down the camera using his TV matching it with the location the hidden camera was pointing and finally narrowed it down to the west corner of the warehouse, but there was nothing there, no camera in sight. Trevor turned around confused and signaled to the other men that there was nothing there, Trevor looked back at his TV and saw that he was face to face with this invisible camera. Trevor examined the empty space more closely straining his eyes to find the hidden recording device than all the sudden the silhouette of a man came into view than Hero's entire body shed his cloaking field and Jack meet the terrified eyes of Trevor the cowboy.

Jack- "Boo!"

Trevor yelled for help but it was too late, Jack head butted the cowboy knocking him unconscious and Trevor dropped the TV to the floor. Through the TV screen the millions of viewers watched Hero jump from the loft and scan the face of the Cartel and Howler members, Jack made sure to zoom in real close on Darlene's face than the feed ended and it was just Jack and a group of armed thugs.

Jack- "Guess I missed the invitation to this party, what's wrong Darlene not happy to see me?"

Darlene- "On the contrary Jack, I'm thrilled, kill him!"

Jack engaged his low flow energy field that surrounded him with a protective cocoon of energy blocking the barrage of bullets from the Cartel and Howlers guns. Jack zipped around the room and strategically took out henchmen after henchmen with his accelerated speed, until he got to the group surrounding Darlene protecting their leader at any cost. Jack backhanded a Cartel member who was trying to sneak up on him, vented his energy and reengaged the force field as he slowly crept toward Darlene and her group.

Jack- "Give it up skank, I got you red handed there's nowhere to run everyone's after you now, that's a shitty feeling huh? "

Darlene chuckled and gave the command for her protective circle of goons to fire, Jack ran full steam towards the group expecting more pesky gunfire but instead he was hit with bolt after bolt of expelled Mechorg energy from the H.E. rifles. The hits not only punched effortlessly through Jack's shield but it tore holes in his Hero suit. Jack and the Mechorg's wailed in pain as Jack spun in the air and into empty wooden crates. Jack pushed himself onto his knees and shook the stars from his head, he looked through the crack in his helmet glass and saw Darlene and the Howler's retreating into an office behind the Warehouse and Jack pursued but once he had reached the door something powerful hit him sending him sliding along the floor. Jack rolled back to his feet and watched as the five remaining Howlers and Darlene Rose each took a hit from the IAS10 vapor inhalers. Jack charged again but Darlene stepped out back into the Warehouse and let out an ear piercing screech that stopped Jack dead in his tracks. The five other disfigured Howlers joined in with their own cries that sent Jack into a daze and shook the very foundation of the warehouse. Jack weakly reached back to retract his helmet and attempted to cover his ears but the sounds were deafening and there was no way to muffle them. Jack reengaged the helmet and examined his hands now drenched in blood from his ears and then darted for cover behind a forklift. The Howlers surrounded the Forklift and fired their H.E. Rifles, one energy round clipped the propane tank on the forklift and it erupted into flames, through the flames Jack vented energy through his boots and tore through the ceiling out of sight from the Howlers just as the forklift exploded. The Howlers searched the wreckage for any sign of Jack's body but jack leapt through the hole in the roof and landed behind two unsuspecting Howlers. Jack tripped one Howler and knocked the other one into the flames with a bolt of energy, Jack watched the Howler roll around engulfed in flames and scream. The other Howler from the floor began to get up but Jack was quickly on top of him and knocked him out with three vicious blows to the head. Jack stood up but was blasted back by a scream from Darlene; Jack flew into the arms of the fourth awaiting Howler. Howler #4 used his IAS10 induced strength to squeeze Jack cracking bones and knocking the wind from his lungs. Jack tried to wiggle free but for the five minutes the inhalers did their work, the Howlers over powered even Hero. Howler # 5 stood at a distance, aimed his rifle and fired, Jack vented his boots and took Him and Howler # 4 for a ride and the bolt of energy barely missed. Jack landed hard on his back on the cold warehouse floor breaking the hold of Howler # 4 and as Jack shakily got to his feet Howler # 5 was there to give him a colossal punch to the gut. Jack stumbled back and returned punches but the ones that landed barely fazed the giant man, this battle was becoming reminiscent of fighting Alex Menstrength but literally five times worse. Howler # 5 knocked Jack back to the floor and grabbed him by his leg, he spun Jack around and dragged him through metal crates and support beams until he let Jack loose and tossed him like he was a football back into the arms of Howler #4. Howler #4 wrapped Jack's arms up and Howler # 5 crept menacingly closer than let out another scream that was directed toward Jack but the intense noise wave hit his companion as well. Through bloody tears Jack could make out the discomfort in Howler # 4's face as the wave hit him as well and finally Jack planned a way out. Jack snapped his head back and his hard Mechorg helmet collided with Howler # 4's nose weakening his hold on Jack. Jack wriggled one arm free, slammed his free elbow into the beasts face and fell to the floor. With Jack's body no longer acting as a shield for Howler # 4, the force of Howler # 5's scream threw # 4 across the room and into an electrical panel making it arc sending deadly amounts of electrical current through # 4's body killing him instantly. Before # 5 had any time to react Jack vented his boots sending him flying through the warehouse where he punched #5 in the throat before he could let out another hell cry. # 5 stumbled back holding his throat gulping for air, Jack jumped up and vented his boot energy into the giants gut sending him to the floor with a tremendous thump, Jack back flipped landed gracefully and vented a full power bolt of energy that hit #5's making a crater in the cement. Jack stood victorious but he forgot one more Howler, Darlene, a flash of white out of the corner of his eye made Jack roll out of the way just as a propane tank hit the ground and exploded. The force scooted Jack across the room till he got back on his feet and struggled for his balance. Jack saw Darlene still high on IAS10 on the other side of the room next to a dozen tanks of propane and she was going to huck every single one. Jack dipped and dodged two more tanks trying to get closer to Darlene but one perfectly pitched tank hit Jack at over forty miles an hour sending Jack to his knees. Darlene saw her opportunity to end everything; she aimed one more time and threw another propane bottle as hard as she could. Jack quickly turned his vent gloves to the low flowing option and vented energy that slowed the speeding bottle than stopped it just inches from his tattered helmet, Darlene saw her error and gulped in air for a hell cry. Jack decided to test the limits of his new and improved vent gloves and kept his left glove on low flow mode keeping the propane bottle suspended in mid air. He slammed the pressure switch on the wrist of his right glove against his hip to engage the full power mode on his right glove and pointed it at the propane bottle still being held stationary in the stream of energy and vented his right glove with a full power bolt. The energy from the right glove connected with the propane bottle and sent it flying back at Darlene. Darlene ducked out of the way but the tank hit the other propane canisters and the warehouse erupted into a giant fireball propelling Jack and Darlene into the walls. Jack woke first and surveyed his damage, not much of the suit was left but it did a decent job of absorbing most of the hit but some debris made it through and Jack noticed a large metal shard was stuck in his side. Jack pulled the shard from his body and slowly wadded through the rubble as the IAS9 worked overtime to heal his many cuts and burns. Jack heard the groans of Darlene buried under a pile of bricks and sheet metal and he pulled it off of her. Darlene was in bad shape burnt and bloody Jack was sure that without the IAS10 she would have been killed, but with the five minute window almost expiring and the drug almost out of her system it was only a matter of time before she was dead. Jack stared into his former lovers eyes and although he had so much distain for her, he still had feelings for her as well. Jack held her hand and prayed for her life to end swift and painless, Darlene attempted to tell Jack something but in her weakened state is was no more than a whisper. Jack placed his ear close to hers and listened intently to her dying words; words that made Jack rip his hand back and scoot away in surprise and disgust.

Jack- "You're lying, you're a Goddamn liar!"

Darlene shook her head weakly and time stood still, this could all be over right now Jack thought to himself. Let the bitch burn and he can have his life back no more worrying about her or the Howlers, but if she was telling the truth…. Jack sat for what seemed like hours when his thoughts were broken by the sound of approaching sirens, that anonymous tip he made had the Cops intrigued but when they saw Darlene's part in the Howlers with their very eyes on television they were flying to the scene, so Jack was forced to make a decision. Jack ran to what was left of the office building behind the warehouse and grabbed an inhaler of IAS10 than ran back to Darlene's side; he slipped the inhaler into her burnt lips and pressed the canister down to release the vapor. Within seconds Darlene's body had fully healed itself, her red blistered skin grew back into its smooth texture and her bloodshot eyes transformed into the soft hazel color that Jack had fallen in love with. Once fully healed Jack helped Darlene to her feet and their eyes met, for an instant Jack forgot about the past and could imagine himself spending the rest of his life with her. The moment past suddenly though as Darlene pushed Jack to the floor and began running off but Jack yelled and Darlene slowed her pace than stopped.

Jack- "Darlene wait, is it true? Just tell me for once in your life tell me the truth."

Darlene ignored Jack's question and continued running

Jack-"I'm not going to follow you D, not this time. But you can beat your ass I'm going to find you; I'll be seeing you soon."

With that Darlene disappeared into the smoke and flames and Jack could hear the sirens from the fire and police department getting closer. Jack stumbled through more debris and out through what was left of the factory doors and met the first set of Officers as they ducked behind their cruiser doors guns drawn.

Cop# 1- "Jack Canner put your hands on your head and walk slowly towards us."

Jack was exhausted from this whole ordeal and simply shuffled weakly towards the two Officers holding his hands up in a nonthreatening gesture. He retracted his helmet and slipped out the mini SD card he had in the recording device inside and gently placed it on the hood of the cop car. Jack turned his back towards the Cops and began to walk away.

Cop #1- "You need to stop this Canner, you're going to get hurt."

Jack-"I've already been hurt."

With that Jack vented the energy through his boots and tore off into the dark sky.

ONE DAY EARLIER….

Darlene Rose walked into the office of Jacquelyn Darcy the new CEO of Menstrength pharmaceuticals since Michael Clyde was in prison for harboring a fugitive and illegal experimentation. The two ladies shook hands than Darlene took a seat in the chair on the other side of Jacquelyn's desk.

Jacquelyn Darcy- "Lieutenant what a surprise, I've already given your department all of our IAS research along with any Mechanical organism research Dr. Clyde had on file. I assure you I don't want to be tied up in any of this Hero nonsense and with me in charge this sort of thing will not happen again."

Darlene Rose- "So you've told us Ms. Darcy and I trust you."

Jacquelyn- "So what is it you want exactly?

Darlene- "You're advancements in modern medicine and Tech intrigues me Ms. Darcy and I believe it can be used to really help the people of this city. Don't tell anyone I told you this but I respect the things that the Hero has done but his way of doing things is…..messy to say the least. Even criminals deserve their day in court and with Hero running around bashing their heads in that may defeat the purpose of the justice system."

Jacquelyn- "I still don't quite understand what my research or company has to do with any of this."

Darlene- "Ms. Darcy if we put the power of the Hero into the responsible well trained hands of the police department imagine the things we could accomplish. What I'm suggesting to you is making a Hero of our own but a better trained Officer of the law who will be bound by law, a Hero for the people just what this department needs to enhance its image."

Jacquelyn- "So you rip my head off about my company being associated with the Hero than turn around and want me to do it all over again? This technology can potentially be dangerous you know that right? Take for instance Alex Menstrength."

Darlene- "I understand the risk involved but with careful monitoring of the subject just as Michael Clyde did and with a disciplined Officer the pros outweigh the cons."

Jacquelyn-"Ok but if anything out of the ordinary begins to take place I'm pulling the plug, who do you suggest we get for Hero2?"

Darlene- "You won't be sorry Jacquelyn, and I'm thinking one of the most talked about successful law enforcement officials. He single handedly lead the capture of numerous drug and weapons shipments along with hundreds of dangerous illegal immigrants have you heard of John Cervantes?"

Jacquelyn- "Sure I have he's been all over the news they call him the Man Hunter, but isn't he in critical condition in the hospital, another victim of Hero"?

Darlene- "That's correct who better to track down Hero than a man whose life was taken away from him by Hero, imagine the drive and passion he would possess, he would be unstoppable."

The two women wrapped up their conversation and agreed to discuss the details at a later date. As Darlene walked off Menstrength property a huge smile ran across her face as she realized John Cervantes was in on the Howlers cut. Cervantes was an informant and also turned a blind eye to certain Howler shipments and in turn Darlene would give him the heads up on rival gang shipments. This gave Cervantes a prestige image in the public's eye and made him the golden boy for both the Border Patrol and the Howlers, this time Jack Canner definitely took on the wrong person. Darlene's smile faded as nausea hit her and she vomited in the plants in the Menstrength parking lot. Darlene was concerned she had been getting sick in the mornings recently and her body ached; than all at once a disturbing thought hit her like a ton of bricks. She wiped her mouth and stared at a discarded newspaper with Jack Canners face on it in the plants the headline reading: "JACK CANNER STILL AT LARGE"

Darlene- "O my God."

Episode 3

"Assassin"

A blue panel van casually drives along a dusty road towards an abandoned barn, the man driving checks his surrounding over and over again to see if anyone has followed or if there was anything out of the ordinary, a ritual he has practiced time and time again. The driver notices a man far off in the distance standing in the middle of the road, as he approaches the man doesn't move out of the way and the driver realizes that Hero is blocking path. The driver slams down the accelerator and drives straight for the armored man but just feet before he hits, Hero lets out a wave of energy that crushes the vans front end stopping it dead in its tracks. The driver propelled forward without his seatbelt on and flew through the windshield; he rolled along the gravel until he stopped at the feet of Jack Canner. The driver struggled to reach the buck knife in his pocket but Jack dug his foot under the driver's stomach and flipped him over like he was dribbling a soccer ball. The driver fell flat on his face again unconscious; Jack walked to the side of the panel van and ripped the door off the hinges. Inside was a fourteen year old girl bound and duct taped with a dirty rag in her mouth, the driver had abducted her about a month prior and Jack had managed to track him down to this location far ahead of the cops and detectives. Jack pulled the rag out of the little girl's mouth and pulled down the blindfold the little girl immediately freaked out and started to kick and scream at the masked vigilante.

Jack- "Teresa, Teresa Bradford, my name is Jack I'm here to help its ok see….."

Jack retracted his helmet and his kind face brought the girl out of her fit

Teresa-"how…how did you find me?"

Jack-"I'm a lot smarter than they make me out to be on the news, let's get you home."

Jack carefully helped the terrified girl from the van and together they began to walk down the road back towards the highway. It was later that day when Jack landed from a Mechorg propelled jump onto the property of Jameson auto wrecking yard, Jacks new hideout/ employer. Ike Jameson was a retired Vietnam vet who was blinded by shrapnel in the war. Although Jack felt for the injured soldier he exploited his blindness by applying for a job with him for his wrecking yard. Since the incident with Darlene Rose and the Howlers at the warehouse, the cops knew he was back in town and Jack and Dr. Joseph Mixer needed a place to lay low and call home. Ike's blindness worked for the two fugitives because the blind war vet couldn't make out their faces and only knew minor details about Hero from what he heard on the radio. Joseph and Jack had been working with Ike for three months now and although the wages were close to minimum Joseph had managed to work in a small garage on the property into the deal so he and Jack had a place to sleep and store all the Hero suit gear and the equipment to make the IAS9. So far everything had been working out and although Joseph hated the back breaking work of dismantling cars the yard gave them ample cover and enough free time for Jack to pursue his new venture, help for hire. Even with all the bad press about Hero out there, there were still people who believed in what Jack was doing and plenty of those people needed help with something. So Jack would list ads online and in magazines blatantly advertising his services to help people, twice the cops tried to set up a fake meet in order to attempt to capture the vigilante but Jack was able to stay one step ahead of them using his cloaking option on his Mechorg suit and only communicating using cell phones he left at the meet points. Jack was obsessed with helping those who couldn't help themselves or rely on the overloaded justice system and now he was doing it for all the right reasons not for fame or recognition, a mistake he made by exposing his identity to Darlene Rose in hopes for some good publicity and validation. Jack rose to his feet from the small crater in the earth he made with his controlled landing, with the help of the energy from the gloves, and made his way to the garage to change out of his suit and hide it. Jack stood at the door of the garage and studied the industrial combination lock perplexed, the number pointing up towards the arrow was wrong. Every time Jack would suit up and leave the yard he and the Joseph would agree on a number to match with the arrow on the dial, a different number then previously discussed meant there was trouble and with Jacks perfect memory he knew the number was wrong. Jack inched towards the window and peered in, he saw Joseph sitting in his chair at the desk of his makeshift lab putting together another batch of IAS9. Jack tapped on the window to get the doctors attention but Joseph ignored the signal, Jack ran to the secret back entrance of the garage covered with car parts, engaged his cloaking device on the suit and stealth fully waded through the miscellaneous lab equipment in the garage. Jack was inches from Joseph when he spun the chair around and noticed his friend was unconscious. Jack turned towards the empty garage in a defensive position still cloaked from the Mechorgs, an unknown intruder leapt from the rafters and landed a powerful kick to Jacks chest sending him head over heels over the doctors desk and he landed with loud thud on the dirt garage floor. Jack began to inch to his feet but before he could catch his breath the intruder was on him again, he grabbed Jack by his Mechorg collar and pinned him against the garage wall. Jack was completely taken off guard by the speed and strength of his attacker and took a moment to examine his face, a face that was partially hidden by a black hood but he could make out that the mans lips were sewn together almost surgically. Jack wind milled his hands around breaking the attackers hold and pushed him off, the attacker reengaged and the two men went blow for blow neither of them getting the upper hand. Jack let out a furry of punches that the man easily blocked and Jack knew this man was faster than him. Jack managed to land a well placed open palm strike to the intruders chest which sent him to the floor, Jack jumped and attempted to land a knee into the downed man but in a blink of an eye he rolled back to his feet and pulled two weapons from under his cloak. The intruder clicked a button on the side of both batons and they extended to twelve inches, in the end of the batons were sharp curved blades. Before the incredibly fast mask man could strike again Jack leapt and landed a spinning kick to the mans face, the man spun and sliced with both batons and landed gracefully on his feet. Jack took two steps back and examined his damage, thankfully the HERO suit had absorbed the hit and not a single blade had pierced his skin. Jack stood strong and once again reexamined his attacker, the attacker stood silent as well and looked at the chipped blades of his batons than back at Jack obviously mesmerized by the Hero.

Jack-"Who the hell are you?"

A loud bang echoed through the garage and a bullet hit the right shoulder of the masked man who barley flinched and spun around to meet the smoking barrel of the handgun in Dr. Joseph Mixers hand. Jack vented energy from his gloves that hit the man and sent him flying through the window of the garage. Jack ran to catch the doctor as he began to loose consciousness again and once he set his body gently on the floor Jack ran to the shattered window and to his surprise saw no sign of his attacker. A few hours later, after blaming the noises on combusting chemicals from the cars to their employer Ike Jameson, Jack and Joseph talked about the incident while cleaning the tattered garage.

Joseph- "I don't know what happened one minute I'm doing research on a new breed of Mechorgs and putting the final touch on a batch of IAS9 the next I wake up to you and some hooded ninja kicking the crap out of each other. Who did you piss off?"

Jack- "I've pissed off more, drug dealers, car thieves and homicidal maniacs than I can count but this guy… this guys well above any of their pay grades, he's a pro I've never fought someone as fast as him."

Joseph-"He's faster than you?"

Jack- "Ya…he is."

Joseph- "Well whoever he is he wanted you not me, he used me as bait, but he grabbed some stuff before you showed up."

Jack-"God please tell me he didn't swipe a supply of IAS9?"

Joseph- "No I've got that locked away and hidden but I was working on duplicating the conductive Mechorgs you told me about."

Jack-"You mean the blue Mechorgs that Bradley made for General Caldwell, yeah what about them?"

Joseph-"This guy took all of my research on that, everything's gone."

The men finished cleaning and both went to their rooms but Jack couldn't sleep all these questions kept running through his head: which organization wanted him dead now, the Cops the Government? How would he find this masked man again and if he did find him would he be able to defeat him? Jack was restless and while standing guard discovered a drop of blood on the wall of the garage, blood belonging to his attacker. Jack gathered the blood in a vile and proceeded to the only place that could gather Identification from D.N.A. unfortunately that place was the Forensic Office right in the middle of the Police department. Jack stealth fully snuck into the police station and stole an ID badge from a jacket in the locker room and crept into the Forensics office. Jack had browsed the internet researching how to examine a blood sample and with his perfect memory and enhanced intellect from the IAS9 he identified the masked man as Victor Allen. Victor was a bright honor student who had applied to the Police Department and was a day away from graduating when he simply fell off the map. Jack typed Victor Allen into the search engine on the computer and the first hit that came up was a newspaper article from six years ago, Jack checked his surroundings again to see if he was clear and began to read the article.

SEPTEMBER 14th 2006

Witnesses and traffic cameras confirm a young Police Cadet by the name of Victor Allen was involved in a hit and run earlier today that killed an eight year old girl by the name of Cloe Remin. Other Cadets from Allen's troop reported Allen leaving a celebration at a bar for their up and coming graduation. Allen was supposedly intoxicated and drove off after and argument with his girlfriend…

Jack moved onto another article it read:

Parents of deceased girl claim to be haunted by their daughter's killer….

Jack clicked off the internet page and searched Victor Allen in the Police database, Victors only charge was hit and run and manslaughter but his name was also pinned to questioning on assassinations of some very powerful government officials and members of the criminal underworld. The doorknob to the Forensic office jiggled and the beep of someone typing their pass code in made Jack jump out of his chair and dart out the open window. A man walked in and flipped on the switch then walked around looking for something, the man found his badge that Jack had stolen, chuckled out loud and walked out the door. Jack had managed to get an addressee for the family of Cloe Remin the girl that was murdered in the hit and run by Victor Allen. Jack landed on the upstairs balcony and carefully opened the door to the bedroom he hoped was the parents of Cloe to ask them some questions, unfortunately Jack had stumbled into the room of a sleeping little girl. Startled the girl woke up and searched the room but Jack was still cloaked in Mechorg energy.

Little girl- Mommy, Daddy?

Jack stood by the end of the little girls bed and in his most soothing voice called out to her.

Jack-"Umm….Hi I'm….well have you heard about the guy they call Hero all over the news?"

The little girl gasped but surprisingly didn't scream

Little girl- "Yeah, Hero's awesome everyone says he's mean and does bad things but I don't believe him…my friends tease me because I want to be Hero when I grow up."

Jack disengaged his cloaking field on his suit and the little girls face light up

Little girl- "O my gosh I knew you'd come I've been giving mommy and daddy my letters to give to you and I knew you'd come."

Jack smiled under his helmet it was nice to have a fan in such bad times even if his fan base consisted of six year olds.

Jack- "O really and remind me what did you write to me about?"

Little girl- "About how I dressed up for you for Halloween but mommy and daddy didn't like it so they made me take it off, and how I draw you in art class at school and about trying to help my friend the one who accidentally hurt my older sister…..

Jack's blood turned cold he pulled a piece of paper from his pants and showed the little girl a picture of Victor Allen he had printed from offline at the Police station.

Jack-"Is this your friend that needs my help?"

The little girl studied the picture intently and nodded enthusiastically

Little girl- Yep that's my friend Vick, can you please help him Hero he didn't mean to hurt my big sis he's really sorry he tells me all the time and he brings mommy and daddy lots of money when he can…..

Jack- "When's the last time you've seen Vic honey?"

Little Girl- Umm…. last week, he said he was gonna come see me again today to bring me more money for mommy and daddy."

Jack stood up and searched the room in a panic and to his horror saw the disfigured face of Victor Allen outside on the balcony. A boom of thunder and a flash of lighting light up the sky and Victor Allen came crashing through the little girls doors and tackled Jack to the floor. Victor began savagely beating Jack in the body and Jack reacted with a direct vented energy shot to Victor's torso, the impact shot Victor up into the ceiling and he fell face first to the floor. Jack knelt by the Victor

Jack-"I know who you are


End file.
